I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Archives for October 2012

10.25-29: HurricaneSandy Weekend Recap

{Thursday night} FASHION SHOW!!! | dance dance dance | cab home

{Friday} heart attack waking up at 1.50pm & messing up the day | go through photos from fashion show | tortellini | Price home | shower | go to Mark and Allie’s to hang out with everyone |

{Saturday} sleep in| haymarket for oranges | Mark & Allie’s house | fresh squeeze oj | breakfast: mimoas, muffins, eggs, baocon, sausage | T ride | guys went to BC game |kids play at the park | T ride back  | lunch for the kids| nap with Kenzi | guys come home | sushi dinner from Fugakyu | kids paint pumpkins  then go to bed | go home & go to bed

{Sunday} sleep in | grocery shopping | breakfast | Grimm | fight | baking and cleaning while Price works on portfolio | dvr’d NASCAR race | got ‘no work’ email | make drinks & watch Hurriance Sandy coverage | bed

{Monday} no work | breakfast | Hurriance Sandy coverage | bake cookies | shower | power out at 3.20 | 2 hour nap | walk around | go for a drive to see any damage (not much!) | KFC | lounge around with drinks | bed

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bacon, Mushroom, Onion, and Cheese Stuffed Bread

It’s been a year since I’ve started to participate in Secret Recipe Club and I have really enjoyed this past year.It’s been so much fun getting to interact with other bloggers and to make some really fun recipes. I can’t wait for the next year with this great group!

 

 

This month I had Anne’s blog called Anne Jisca’s Healthy Pursuits. Wouldn’t you know I think the pick the 1 indulgent thing on the blog. She has great soups, breads, so many other great fresh homemade recipes on her blog. Of course I pick one with bacon and cheese. It’s just that once I saw her Bacon Cheese Stuffed Bread I knew I needed to have it. It would just work out perfectly to enjoy on a leisurely Sunday with some NASCAR and Football on. Plus, some Frankenstorm updates watching didn’t hurt! Oh, Hurricane Sandy, please be nice!

 

 

I made some changes to the original recipe in that I don’t have bacon bits at home so I used regular bacon and then I added mushroom and onion to the mix. I just figured adding some mushroom and onion would add to the overall flavor. Plus knowing it would basically be lunch it should have a veggie in there. ha! This was really simple to prepare and was so good. I highly suggest making this or a few different kinds, maybe with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, or some sauteed chopped broccoli. It’s the perfect game day treat!

Bacon, Mushroom, Onion, and Cheese Stuffed Bread

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 boule loaf of bread (8oz)
  • 4 slices of bacon
  • 8 oz o mushrooms, chopped
  • 1 small white onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 pinch red pepper flake
  • 2 oz of freshly grated cheese, such as cheddar or Gruyere

Process

  1. Prepare the bread but cutting a cross hatch in the loaf almost all the way through. Place the bread onto a baking sheet lined with a large piece of tin foil.
  2. Cut the bacon into small pieces. In a medium sized skillet, cook on medium low until completely cooked. Drain on a paper towel. Discard all but 1 tablespoon bacon drippings.
  3. Over medium heat, cook the mushrooms and onion in the same skillet with the bacon drippings as well as the butter. season with red pepper flake, salt and pepper. Once the mushroom and onion are cooked down add the bacon back into the skillet.
  4. Add the bacon, mushroom, and onion mixture into the crevices of the bread. Freshly grate the cheese over the entire bread. Gently, wrap the foil over the bread to tent it over the cheese.
  5. In a preheated 350 degree oven, bake the bread for 15 minutes. Open the foil to expose the top and broil for 1-2 minutes to get a golden brown top.

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Secret Recipe Club

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts:

September: Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos

August: Birthday Cake Oreo Truffles

July: Tropical Pork Pineapple Kebabs

June: Cheesy Garlic Knots

May: Berry Brownie Torte

April: Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

March: Sauteed Green Beans with Lemon and Almonds

February: Fried Pickles

Jan: No SRC postings

December: Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

November: Vegetable Enchiladas

October: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

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Oh So Stylish: Day 7- KP’s Sketchbook 4

I am college tired today. Not college finals tired but still pretty god damn tired. Why so tired? The fashion show work. Blah Blah Blah. Just 2 more nights of work and then it’s time to par-tay. I can’t wait for the show and party on Thursday night. Plus I can’t wait for Friday. Last year I was pretty hungover and tired since I got home around 3am so I learned my lesson and took Friday off. I can’t wait to lounge around, clean up, and scrapbook!!!

This was a layout I created based upon the Day 7 sketch from Kelly Purkey’s Sketchbook Class 4 from Studio Calico. There was a large element on the sketch that was a circle. Dang circles and scrapbooking, they always just create a (fun) challenge. I didn’t have photos that worked well to be trimmed to be a circle. Instead my circular element was a die-cut piece of patterned paper. I figured it would work well, plus it didn’t hurt that it had glitter on it! I then decided on using some pictures that I took of my niece this spring. I brought her a big yellow flower headband and took photos of her wearing it and trying to smell it. ahhh!! From there I dove into my stash and grabbed some stickers, washi, die-cuts, and brads and then whipped it all together.

I just need to wrap up my layouts for Days 10, 11, 12. As much as this was a class hosted this spring I have enjoyed taking on the sketches and creating layouts from it on my time. Almost done. 🙂

Just taking a stroll {Chelsea, MA}

Last weekend I took a walk around our town to get out of the house and get some breakfast & butter, as I was running low and the urge to bake hit. It was a rainy, gloomy Sunday morning but I still enjoyed the walk to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. When I’m out in town I’m typically on a quick mission to get to/from the bus but this time I had the chance to walk around and enjoy the sights.

 

 

I highly suggest that you go out in your town with you camera and snap a few photos. I bet you will enjoy opening up your eyes and exploring. Find some beauty. Enjoy it.

Thirsty Thursday: Slime Rickey

With just less than 2 weeks until Halloween Amanda and I decided to have 2 Thirsty Thursday posts with a spooktacular Halloween theme. We each will share one drink that is for great for trick-or-treaters of all ages (non-alcoholic) and one boo-zy one that you can enjoy at a party. This week I am sharing a fun drink that kids will just love and Amanda is sharing one that will put a smile across any grown ups’ face.

 

 

A Slime Rickey is perfect for kids as it is a lime rickey but there are some spooky eyes floating around in the glass! Just kidding! Those creepy eyes are just grapes and some maraschino cherries. Make and freeze the eyeballs in advance and you can whip up these drinks for the kids for a party or to refresh them after a long night of trick-or-treating. Perfect drink to sip on while sorting out all the candy!

Check out Amanda’s drink called a Bloody Tooth Cocktail! A reddevilish delight for parents after a long night of trick or treating! Sure to put a smile on your face!

Slime Rickey

Makes 4 drinks

Ingredients

  • 8 oz of lime juice (approximately 6 limes)
  • 4 oz of simple syrup
  • 16 oz of seltzer water
  • green grapes, round is preferred
  • maraschino cherries
  • crushed ice

Process

  1. To make the frozen eyeballs: chop maraschino cherries into tiny pieces. Score a ‘X’ at the end of the grape. Insert the piece of cherry into the grape. Arrange on the baking sheet and freeze.
  2. Combine 2 oz of fresh limes juice with 1oz of simple syrup in a glass. Add crushed ice and then seltzer. Put at least 5 frozen ‘eyeballs’ into each drink and enjoy!

Ms. HH: Day 6- KP’s Sketchbook 4

{Day 6}

So I have this habit of getting too busy with too many things to do… traveling, blogging, participating in creating costumes in next week’s  IIDA fashion show, starting to volunteer as a mentor for HS students, doing laundry and dishes, etc. What falls to the side? My crafty adventures that I love. Since there are only so many hours in the day, and while my crafts are a priority, I typically end up cutting that out. It blows. I wish it could just figure out how to juggle it all.

Well, this all has been bothering me so I got up early this morning and finished a scrapbooking layout that has been sitting in a pile of partially finished layouts for months. That pile was a very sad sight every time I go in to feed and play with the rabbits.

Pretty simple layout with a patterned background page and some layered embellishments. Once I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use pockets that I had  from some Studio Calico kits to hold journaling cards. From there I dug through more of my past kit elements and used an envelope instead of using a piece of cardstock or paper to layer upon. I added some brads, gems, washi, stickers, and alph’s. ta-da!

Just a few more sketches left to finish up the Kelly Purkey’s Sketch Book 4 class that I took this spring… spring. ugh! I am determined to do them all, eventually! Once the fashion show is over next week (wish us luck!), I’m hoping to carve out some time to be crafty more regularly. Gotta get back to scrapbooking layouts and Project Life. Stay tuned!

12 Courses @ BOKX 109

Last Wednesday night I was honored to be a part of a blogger’s tasting of the Fall Flavors Dinner at BOKX 109. I’ve had to been BOKX 109 at Hotel Indigo previously for events, and was always dying to go back to use the hotel’s pool when I was a resident of Newton. I enjoyed my visits then but I was interested to see what a new Excutive Chef Stephen Coe would have to offer.

I brought one of the General Contractors that I work with to the dinner with me. I’ve been working on this project for 18 months now and he joined the team shortly after construction started last summer. I’ve brought in baked goods and other goodies to the team at meetings and have told him about the fun blogging things I do so I wanted to share this experience with him. Obviously, Chris could not turn down a 12 course tasting menu with wine pairings.

 

-Course 1-

Pear & Mascarpone Sacchetti … aka ‘Smoke Show’ – sacchetti stuffed with pear and Mascarpone topped with a cream sauce, arugula, pickled red onion, and lemon.

This is called ‘smoke show’ as the sacchetti, purse shaped stuff pasta, were plated and then served under a large wine glass that was filled with hickory smoke. The presentation was incredible. Chef Coe removed the wine glass for me so I could take photos of the smoke billow out. The smoke provided a nice subtle taste to the dish. It added a nice contrast to the somewhat sweet tender handmade pasta delicately covered in a cream sauce. Once I took a bite of this dish I knew that the rest of the courses would be unforgettable. Knock your socks off first impressions.

 

This course was paired with Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc

-Course 2-

Grilled Oyster- local oyster grilled and topped with fennel pollen, tomatoes, panko bread crumbs, pancetta, and chive fondue.

I skipped this course because I do not like oysters. It’s a texture thing. I gave my dish to Chris, who really enjoys oysters. He liked both but commented on how overall they were salty. Also he noticed that the second one (mine) was less briny than his, which he preferred more.

 

According to Chef Coe, ‘Fennel Pollen has a flavor that is incredible–like taking the fennel seed, sweetening it and then intensifying it a hundred times.’

This course as paired with Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc

-Course 3-

Grilled Octopus- Octopus Carpaccio and grilled tentacles served with Arugula and pickled red onions finished with lemon juice, olive oil, and chives.

This dish has us stumped for a bit. We obviously knew there was grilled octopus put didn’t know what was below the grilled ocotopus. We were running through some of the ideas we had like hearts of palm or sunchoke. It was so thinny sliced and delicate! Well we asked Chef Coe and he explained it was octopus carpaccio, which is a dish of raw meat thinly sliced or pounded thin. Loved the play on 2 ways to prepare the octopus.

This course as paired with Deep Sea Chardonnay

 

-Course 4-

Tomato Heirloom Soup- Campbell style, tomato, garlic, onions, basil. Finished with Parmesan foam.

I could not believe that Chef Coe was describing his soup as ‘Campbell’s like’ as this was a hundred times better. I could see where he was going with this soup as everyone grows up with and reminds you of home, reminds you of warm coup after a cold afternoon playing outside. Bullseye. The soup was paired with a salad of fresh heirloom tomatoes and some fried cheese. While this was very good –  basically a raw, whole soup –  I still was wishing the soup was paired with a fun grilled cheese. I just can’t resist that pair.

 

This course as paired with Deep Sea Chardonnay

 

-Course 5-

Lobster Cavatelli- Lobster meat, shitake mushrooms, edamame, and finished with a chive cream sauce.

Such a big bowl, such a big tease. I’m honestly glad there was not too much of this as we were not even half way through dinner but if this was an entree I would need a massive bowl as this was one of my favorite dishes of the night. The fresh pasta was sauteed in the chive cream sauce and then combined with the mushrooms and edamame. Lobster was tossed in and then it was all topped off with some ribbons of ricotta salata. Did you get all that? Wow. Like I said, I only wish there was some more of it.

 

Did you know that ‘cavatellis are a type of pasta. The term cavatelli has two meanings: the most common meaning is small pasta shells that look like miniature hot dog buns. It is similar in shape to casarecci, but shorter in length. The name is less frequently used for a type of dumpling made with ricotta.’?

This course was paired with King Estate Signature Pinot Gris

-Course 6-

Decon Rabbit- Bacon wrapped rabbit with stewed butter bean

I skipped this course. I just can’t eat rabbit. I think of my pets and I just can’t. Thankfully my partner in crime has no mental blocks and enjoyed this dish. He liked it so much he stole some more off my plate. I should have just asked for the dish without the rabbit since the beans looked incredible. Dang it!

This course was paired with King Estate Signature Pinot Gris

 

-Course 7-

Sous Vide Veal Cheeks- Sous Vide Veal Cheeks with Tarragon Pappardelle and Parsnip puree

Oh this course, I spent the rest of the week and all weekend thinking about it. Fork tender meat on a bed of fresh pappardelle with parsnip puree. Every element of this dish was thoughtfully prepared. The veal was incredibly tender and seasoned perfectly. It was my first time having anything made in the sous vide technique and I am a firm supporter of it now. So tender! The fresh papparadelle was tender and lightly coated with a tarragon sauce. Now, I can’t believe I am saying this but I could have had a soup bowl full of the parsnip puree. I’m sure there is an obsence amount of butter/cream/magic in there but I don’t care as it was ah-mazing. The puree was fine and if you close your eyes you just imagine fall.

I was talking to Chris was I was taking photos as he began to eat. I was shooshed. He was haivng a moment with the veal cheeks. I then had my moment a minute later. I love when a dish leaves you speechless. Bliss.

This course was paired with Hogue Reserve Cabernet

-Courses 8 thru 11-

Dessert Plate–Blueberry & Prosecco Shooter, Strawberry & White Balsamic Jelly, Petite Tiramisu, Chocolate Cyclone

Every element on the plate was unique and delightful.

The blueberry and Persecco shooter was a fun. I loved the presentation of it in the square shooter and tiny straw. I only wish there was more Persecco as it was a little thick for the straw, but the flavors were light and refreshing.

The jelly duo was a nice delicate dessert. The white balsamic was light in flavor and was a nice pairing with the strawberry jelly. I’ve had concentrated balsamic with strawberries in the past but the white balsamic is even better match.

 

The petite tiramisu was exactly that- a tiny bite of tiramisu. Very clear flavors, but not too intense.

The chocolate cyclone was so intense and rich. It was a chocolate cone filled with chocolate mousse and topped off with caramel corn. O.M.G. fun presentation and fun dessert.

-Course 12-

Pop Rocks- Frozen Lemon Soufflé with pop rocks

This was such a fun way to end the dinner. The poprocks added a fun, whimsical end to it while the lemon souffle was like last hurrah. The frozen lemon souffle, which was not too frozen, reminded me of lemoncello, which is an after dinner Italian drink. Fun!

I enjoyed all of the wine pairings we had during dinner. From light fruity wines to richer reds, this covered it all and were paired nicely. All were new wines to me. I would try them all again while shopping for some wines to pair with dinner.

I loved this evening at BOKX 109. It was a very special dinner as it was at the chef’s table and a custom 12 course dinner for the group of bloggers. However, Chris and I watched the dishes coming out of the kitchen and we were dying over some of the things we saw coming out for the dinner service. There was a trio of beef that got higher as was arranged on the plate. Trio of beef!! Oh and don’t get me started on this dish with that started with a bed of potatoes, then asparagas, and then a cut of beef (fillet?). That was covered in hollandaise and then topped with lobster. I could die happy after that.

BOKX 109

Located inside Hotel Indigo

399 Grove Street

Newton, MA 02462

*While I did receive this complimentary meal from BOKX 109 these opinions are entirely my own.

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Monday Munchies: Katz’s Bagel Bakery- Chelsea, MA

As part of my Monday Munchies series, I will feature a different eatery for a review on the first and third Monday of every month. Hope you enjoy!

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While Price and I were in the process of our house this spring, we saw a special on Chronicle about Chelsea, which added to our excitement about the city that we would be moving into. It gave us a lot of information about the history of the tiny city just outside of Boston as well as some great places to go to in Chelsea to see or eat. One place in particular was Katz’s Bagel Bakery. Who doesn’t love a great bagel? (Carbophobes- just stop reading…)

Katz’s Bagel Bakery (pronouced Kate’s) has been open in the same location since 1938 and has been run by 3 generations of Katz men; Harry to Richard and now Jimmy and Jeremy. They make bagels the authentic way by boiling them, letting them dry in a dryer, and then baking them. This process is applied to all of their varieties of bagels. The time, care. and quality ingredients they put into their bagels, and other bakery products, really shows.

 

So whenever we are in town we go to Katz’s bagels for breakfast on the weekends. I love bagels but I love really good bagels. Bagels from Katz a crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. When split open you see a perfectly worked dough that has lovely air pockets giving it an all around great texture.

Katz’s is home to Pizza Bagels. Harry Katz came up with the idea in the 70’s to close a bagel and flatten that out a bit and use at as the dough. This makes their ‘pizza dough’ thick, chewy and the perfect base for a cheesy individual pizza. I did the biggest blogger faux pas and didn’t take a picture of my bagel pizza. I heated it up and it was so amazing looking I just dived in. once I was staring a an empty plate… oh crap! picture!! So here’s the deal, trust me when I say their pizza bagels are awesome and just go to get one.

 

No matter if you go for bagels, pizza bagels, bagel wrapped hot dogs, muffins, or eclairs (Friday & Saturday) you will have a great product, for a great deal. In this particular visit, I walked out of there with a bagel, cream cheese, pizza bagel, and a very large bag of bagel chips for just $8.

Check out Katz’s on a Chronicle segment.

Katz’s Bagels

139 Park Street

Chelsea, MA 02150

617.884.9738

Closed Mondays

Thirsty Thursday: The Cure

The Cure – Beer Cocktail is a refreshing cocktail that will combines a light beer, fresh citrus, and ginger liquor. The perfect drink for a summer bbq or a tailgate at a football game. Cheers!

post from 10/11/12, pictures updated 6/9/18

For this week’s Thirsty Thursday post, Amanda picked out the theme of beer cocktails. Cheers!

This is perfect for football season!

Or any season, if we’re really being honest here.

I love football season since it makes for the best excuse to lounge around watching football all day (or at least I sit there and work on a project), you make chips and dip lunch, and enjoy all that with a beer. Just now, we have decided to have a bit of fun with beers and jazz them up to make beer cocktails!

While browsing around for some fun beer cocktails I came across a great list on Epicurious. One really stuck out to me that I had to try. The Cure – Beer Cocktail was created by Washingon DC’s PS 7 bartender Gina Chersevani as a “cure” for the economic recession since she sells it for the discounted price of $5. That’s a great deal! Definitely calls for one during Happy Hour!

 

I am not a huge fan of Miller High Life, AKA The Champange of Beers. It’s just so light and boring to me.

But this beer cocktail changes it all. With the addition of lemon juice and Domaine de Canton the beer is brought to life. The fizz from the beer, lemon undertones, and kick from the ginger are the perfect combination.

The Cure – Beer Cocktail really will cure all!

Amanda made Cherry Beergaritas! Head over to her blog and check them out.

These beer cocktails are so perfect for football season or a summer time beer cocktail. Great all year long!

The Cure - Beer Cocktails

The Cure - Beer Cocktails

Yield: 2 drinks
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 7 minutes

The Cure - Beer Cocktail is a refreshing cocktail that will combines a light beer, fresh citrus, and ginger liquor. The perfect drink for a summer bbq or a tailgate at a football game. Cheers!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups ice cubes
  • 12 ounces Miller High Life, or other similar light beer
  • 2 ounces Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
  • 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • 16 1-inch pieces peeled fresh ginger cut into thin matchsticks

Instructions

  1. Divide the ice between the 2 glasses. A 12-ounce cooler (or highball) glass works well. 
  2. In a measuring cup or small pitcher, combine the beer, ginger liqueur, and lemon juice. Stir until just combined.
  3. Divide the cocktail in the glasses. Garnish with the ginger sticks.

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© iamahoneybee
Cuisine: American / Category: Drinks

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Apple Pie Squares

When I was recently doing a bit of random blog browsing on Rachel’s blog I saw this recipe for Apple Pie Squares and I knew I would have to make them this year. After I went apple picking I knew that making these was only a matter of time, finding time. Well after a crazy 2 weeks that included a surprise trip to Chicago (more on that later!) I finally had some time to stay home and bake. I’m not saying they take long, I just felt the impulse to basically unpack everything in the kitchen before hand and put it in a new cabinet/drawer/bin before doing anything cooking related.

 

 

Before making them I discussed with Rachel that I don’t have a food processor large enough to process all the base ingredients together so I would have to adapt the recipe a bit and I’d see how it works out. Well, folks if you have a food processor then follow Rachel’s instructions, you don’t have one then follow mine. These came out really well so I imagine that you can make it work out for you as well. If you can’t break down oats in something like a mini prep which I borrowed from my friend) then you just carry on. Maybe I’d add an extra egg white to help it come together easier. The important thing is that you make these apple pie squares!

 

 

Truthfully I was a bit nervous about enjoying these because I don’t like apple crisps, or any crisps for that matter, since they have an oat crumble on top. Well, it turns out I like the taste and just hate the texture.  Blending the oats kept the great oaty taste but completely changed the texture. Perfect!! In regards to adapting the recipe I basically stuck with it but I used much more apples, basically because I felt like it, so I had to increase the bake time. Also, I didn’t have plain yogurt at home so I used vanilla which gave this a nice a la mode taste to it.These were a hit at work and I bet they will be a hit when you make them too.

Apple Pie Squares

Makes 16 squares

Ingredients

For the base and topping:

  • 1 1/2 C flour
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 C oats
  • 1/2 C butter, cubed
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

For the filling:

  • 6 oz of vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 C diced, peeled apple

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 8×8 pan by lining with foil or parchment.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the peeled, diced apples together with the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Once evenly coated, add the yogurt and mix to coat all pieces. Set aside.
  3. In a food processor,  blend the oats until a fine meal is created.  Add the oats to a large bowl containing flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add the butter incorporate with your hands/forks/pastry blender until the dough is crumbly. Remove 1 cup of the mix, set aside. Add 1 egg white, blend until mixture is just combined.
  4. Evenly press moist mixture into the baking pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes.
  5. Spoon filling over the pare-baked crust spreading out as evenly as possible. Sprinkle reserved topping mixture over apples. Press down to flatten just slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.
  6. Cool in the pan then transfer to the fridge to chill for at least one hour. Remove from pan carefully and slice into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Individual Apple Pie Tarts

One of my favorite things to do is rip out all the recipes in magazine that I think I would enjoy making. There is a big difference tween the ‘ooo this looks good’ recipe to the ‘I need to make this one day/right now’ recipe. Then I trim my recipes pages up and file them stack them all up so I can go through them and pick out things to make. Well, I recently came across a recipe of Individual Plum Tarts from my Rachael Ray magazine.

 

 

I made Individual Apple Pie Tarts by swapping out the plums for apples and adding some typical spices used in apple pies. These are easy with a capital E! The puff pastry does most of the work for you and you just need to dice up some apples and quickly mix with the sugar and spices. The important thing is to have a non stick sheet or one that is coated with non stick cooking spray so the puff pastry doesn’t stick. The rest is a breeze! And you’ll end up with really yummy little apple pie tarts!

Individual Apple Pie Tarts

Makes 6

Ingredients

  • 1 sheet of puffed pastry, 1/2 pound
  • 3 cups of finely diced baking apples (approximately 3 apples)
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • butter

Process

  1. Let puff pastry thaw according to package’s instructions.
  2. While the puff pastry is thawing, peel, core and finely dice the apples. In the bowl, combine the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  3. Unfold the puff pastry and cut along the 2 seams to get 3 strips, then cut those in half to get 6 rectangles.
  4. Lay the rectangles out on a greased non-stick baking sheet, add 1/2 cup of the apple mixture to each rectangle keeping a 1/2″ border around the edges clean of apples. Add 2 tiny pieces of butter to the mound of apples.
  5. In a 375 degree oven, bake until golden, about 25-30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Ice cream or caramel sauce are great additions when serving.