Do you know what you do when you work 40+ hours of over time in a month?
You neglect your blog and you buy new shoes.
What’s the point in making loads of OT if you aren’t going to enjoy it? Am I right!?!
…
Pies and Tarts
Quick Oatmeal Cookie Apple Crisps
A few weeks ago, when we went to Apple Crest Farm, we picked up a 1/2 bushel of utility Cortland apples. Utility or second or hail apples are great to grab when you have the opportunity since they are sold at a reduced rate because they are ripe then or are blemished with spots from things like hail storms They are still great apples, but just are not pretty. Who cares when you are making pies or crisps or sauces with them?!?!
So we had A TON of apples. Awesome.
One day when I was at work on the weekend, Price made apple crisps with Autumn for their afternoon activity. She basically just ate the apples. ha!
Here’s the thing, I didn’t like apple crisps. Well, I figured I didn’t since I don’t like berry crisps. I don’t like the oats with the berries. It’s the flavor and texture, it’s just wrong to me. But I figured I would try Price’s to be nice since he made them, and damn, I loved it.
Since then we made 2 more crisps and we demolished them. No shame.
I wanted to use up the rest of the apples so I got to work on another big batch of apple crisps but I was low on oats. I just grabbed a box of Krusteaz‘s Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookie mix to try as a substitute topping mix. I figured it’s basically the same thing!
Winner, Winner more apple crisp for dinner! (oh yeah, that’s a thing…)
This recipe makes 2 apples crisps, but if you don’t have a bunch of apples, or just don’t feel like making 2 apple crisps, then half he ingredients. Save the rest of the cookie mix for your next apple crisp!
Grab some ice cream and dig into your hot apple crisp!
Quick Oatmeal Cookie Apple Crisps
Makes 2 8×8 apple crisps
Ingredients
- 12 Cups Apples, peeled, cored, sliced into 1/4″ thick pieces (I needed 14 Cortland Apples)
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 Cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 package of Krusteaz Brown Sugar Cookie Mix
Process
- Preheat your oven to 375.
- In a very large bowl or 2 medium sized bowls, combine your sliced apples with both sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt, and vanilla extract.
- Divide the apples between the 2 baking dishes
- Combine the melted butter and cookie mix. (You can even reuse the same bowl) Mix until the butter is thoroughly combined in the mix.
- Using your fingers, crumble the cookie mix on top of the 2 baking dishes. Ideally, you want a mix of fine, small, and large crumbles throughout.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Enjoy!
Struesel Topped Ginger Pear Pie
Happy Monday!!
I’m not ready to embrace the work week, but I’m trying to talk myself into it! Like if I repeat it over and over again it will be true. I gotta Bettlejuice it. “Happy Monday! Happy Monday! Happy Monday!!!” And magically it will be a Happy Monday!! HA!
We just had a great weekend so I don’t want to go back to the normal routine. Oh boo!
It was rainy on Saturday so I took Autumn to a local in-door trampoline park. Unless she is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she is on the go, preferably outside. And I couldn’t just park her in front of that all day, so we tried out Skyzone for her. Price and I had loved it when we had done it so I was hoping she would as well.
There was a small toddler area that was perfect and a handful of other kids there. She liked hoping around with the balls and noodles but most of all she liked the bigger kids jumping and making her bounce and fall and bounce and fall over again since she is so small. She was cracking up for that hour.
And then on Sunday we met up with a friend of mine, his wife, and baby. Chris and I worked together a few years ago on a project and have stayed in touch going out to dinners with another guy from the team, so it was great meeting his wife and daughter. I wanted to steal Cora. And I don’t think Autumn would have minded as she kept kissing her. We met at the aquarium, where we have a membership, and then we went out for brunch. Autumn was so worn out by all the running around and action. Perfect day!
Anyway, I haven’t made many pies this year and I wish I had. I missed it from my Year of Pies last year. I was missing it so I dove into the long list of pies that I wanted to make last year but hadn’t gotten around to it. Better late than never.
Pears are just a great fall and winter fruit when you are craving something other than an apple. I have my favorites like bartlett and anjou, but the top pear is the comise.
I gave Price the first slice and he quickly dug in. He explained that he liked the combination of sweetness from the pears and the bite from the ginger. He did suggest that some vanilla ice cream would be a nice compliment to the ginger. And so he bought ice cream the next day for his next visit with the pie!
I hope you welcome the transition of summer to fall with this pie. Enjoy!
Struesel Topped Ginger Pear Pie
Makes a 9″ pie
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water
For the Filling
- 8 pears (I used comise pears)
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup flour
- 1/4 Cup Cornstarch
- 1 ” fresh ginger, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon mace
- zest of 1 lemon
For the Struesel Topping
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon mace
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small piece
- To make your pie crust, cut the butter and shortening into small pieces. Return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture.
- Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a dough blade and pulse a few times to mix.
- Add the butter and shortening. Pulse until the butter is the size of peas and the mixture is crumbly While the machine is running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to pull away from the sides. Dump out on a floured surface. Quickly kneed together, divide into equal sized balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel and slice the pears into 1/4″ thick slices. Place the pears in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the rest of the pie pilling ingredients. Gently mix to coat the pears.
- Remove 1 pie crust disc from the refrigerator (you only need 1 disk so use the other for another pie!). On a floured surface, roll out into a large circle until it is large enough to fit a 9″ pie plate. Place the crust in the pie plate. Fold over then crimp the edges.
- Pour the pear pie filling into the pie crust.
- Make the topping by combing the flour, sugar, ginger, mace, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until fine crumbs form. Scatter the topping over the filling and gently pat down.
- Bake the pie 20 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until the topping is lightly browned and the filling is bubbling, about 40-45 more minutes (cover with foil if the topping is browning too quickly). Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
Pie Crust from Ina Garten, Pie from I am a Honey Bee
Lemon Meringue Pie Waffles
37 Days until our wedding!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!
It’s so exciting and nerve-racking as we still have so many little things to figure out. Sure, Price’s suit and my dress are all set but we have to nail down a bunch of things still. Like we’ve been shopping for the Out of Town Bags we are going to hand out at our reception dinner, and then started to assemble them the other night, and now we have to decorate them with some ribbon next. Nothing too time consuming but just stuff like that.
It’s fun to plan it all out and do it to. It’s just that the time is getting squeezed, but it will all get done, right?!?! Okay, I know it will, but still ahhhhh!!!
Anyway, I’ll have some more in depth wedding planning posts soon.
In the mean time, I have this delightfully sweet and tart waffle recipe for ya. It’s finger licking good. Like chicken, but 10x better.
Ever since I saw these Lemon Meringue Cupcakes I couldn’t stop thinking of them. For real, they were haunting my dreams.
Granted, I was doing Whole30 then and some days I could have killed someone for some sugar. But in reality, they just looked awesome and I wanted them so badly.
Obviously, I had to make them, but with a twist. I had to make them into waffles.
Waffles are my everything right now. They are so awesome. I think about them all the time. You know, in the mix of toddle things, wedding things, work things, etc, etc. My brain is a jumble of delightful things.
These Lemon Meringue Pie Waffles are perfectly tart and sweet. It’s a great combination of flavors. I love lemon. It’s so refreshing. And lemon Meringue pie is so lemony. It’s the best.
Sure, pie is great. I love pie. And I know, I made over 50 last year when I did my Year of Pie posts. But waffles are so much easier to make. Plus, you’re basically having pie for breakfast. So that’s awesome.
Right now the most important thing is to make these. And for me to write vows, make favors, and order babies breath wholesale. Oh yeah, all that.
Don’t mind me as I stress eat these waffles while sitting on my kitchen counter going ‘la-la-la’ in my head. Care to join in?
Lemon Meringue Pie Waffles
Makes 20 mini waffles, 10 waffle sandwiches
Ingredients
For the Waffles
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 3/4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
For the Lemon Curd
- 1 batch of Lemon Curd (3 Cups) or store bought lemon curd/lemon pudding
For the Meringue
- 1 Cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 4 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- powdered sugar
Process
- To make the waffles, start by preheating your waffle iron.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- Vigorously whisk the eggs in large bowl until fluffy. Add the milk, vegetable oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract until just combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Some small lumps are okay.
- Ladle 1/4-1/3 cup of the batter the onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Remove to a baking rack on a cookie sheet in an oven warmed to 200 degrees.
- While the waffles are cooking, make the meringue.
- Set a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl) to create a double boiler. Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar, until egg whites are warm to the touch, sugar is dissolved, and mixture is frothy. Remove from heat.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat until glossy and stiff peaks have formed. Add the vanilla in during last 30 seconds.
- Serve by plating a waffle , scooping a generous amount of the lemon curd on the warm waffle, and then scooping the meringue on top. Using a kitchen torch, or your broiler, brown the meringue. Top off with another waffle with making sandwiches. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Waffle recipe by I am a Honey Bee, meringue from Baked By Rachel
No-Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie
OMG!!! My last pie of The Year of Pies!
I love a good challenge so I really loved making a pie for every Friday. Pie Day Friday!
Anyway, let’s do a fun little recap…
Handmade Pie Crusts are the real deal! And I think that Ina Garten’s recipe is awesome! I used it for the Cranberry Apple Pie and Fruitcake Pie. I swear it’s the vegetable shortening in the dough. #win
No Bake Cookie Crusts are awesome for pudding pies.
I gave away a lot of pie. A LOT.
As much as I made a lot of pies I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface on making pies. I want to to get better at making lattice topped pies,
Price’s favorite pie was the Caramel Pie.
I loved all the pies for different reasons. My favorite chocolate pie: Thin Mint Cookie Pie. My favorite chess pie: Lemon Chess Pie. My favorite fruit pie: Streusel Topped Peach Pie. My favorite pie inspired recipe Overnight Apple Pie Breakfast Pudding. My favorite savory pie: Supreme Pizza Pot Pie.
And twist my arm favorite is the Reese’s Cup Marshmallow Peanut Butter Cookie Pie. OMG so good!!!
This No-Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie was another great pie. It actually feels good to end the year with this pie. It is a pie that is guaranteed to make holiday lovers happy. It’s so holiday.
Sure, I could have done something complicated to show off all the sweet skillz I learned but I’m already in confident in what I learned this past year. Plus, it’s the busy holiday season so let’s stick with something easy!
A quick graham cracker crumb crust and a just as easy eggnog flavored pudding based filling. Perfectly!
As eggnog is very rich, this pie is very rich. Normally I would cut a pie into 8 slices but I would actually cut this into 12 slices. I know, smaller slices. Ghastly! But trust me on this on. It’s delightfully rich so just pace yourself.
I really hope that you enjoyed The Year of Pie as much as I did! It was a blast to try something to challenge myself.
No-Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie
Makes a 9″ deep dish pie, 12 slices
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
For the Filling & Topping
- 8oz of cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2- 1oz boxes of instant vanilla pudding
- 3 Cups light eggnog
- 1- 8oz container of Cool Whip, softened at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon graham cracker crumbs
- pinch of cinnamon
Process
- To make the crust, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Pour the crumbs into the deep dish pie plate. Chill for 30 minutes.
- To make the filling, beat the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add the instant pudding. Slowly beat the mixture while gradually pouring in the eggnog. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Gently fold in the Cool Whip until the filling mixture is well blended.
- Pour the filling mixture into the chilled crust. Sprinkle some graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon in the center of the pie.
- Return to the refrigerator for at least an hour prior to serving. Keep chilled for up to 3 days.