Apple Pie Bake

Easy and delicious. Again, my principle criteria for cooking since I've grown thin and lazy.

Ingredients

• CINNAMON ROLL WITH ICING, 2 packs
• EGGS, 4
• MILK, 1/2 cup
• CINNAMON, 1/2 tablespoon
• VANILLA EXTRACT, 1 teaspoon
• BUTTER, 2 tablespoons
• GRANNY SMITH APPLES, 2 diced
• BROWN SUGAR, 1 cup, packed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cut cinnamon rolls into 3 even strips, then cut each strip into 3 pieces (9 per roll, 18 total). Reserve the icing.
3. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
4. Combine butter, apples and brown sugar in a pan. Cook over medium-high heat until sugar starts to caramelize. Remove from heat.
5. Lay the cinnamon roll dough pieces evenly in a baking pan, cover with the egg mixture, then the apples.
6. Drizzle the reserved icing on top.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool.

Serve with ice cream on top or on the side.

Hawaiian Dream Cake

I don't usually make desserts, especially ones that lack apples. But this recipe looked so easy and sounded so appealing that I gave it a try.

The only difficulty I ran into was when I dusted the inside of the baking pan with flour. It made one helluva mess.

But y'know, the cake WAS easy to make, and it tasted damn good. So I guess the tsk-tsk looks I got from the wife were a small price to pay.

Mac nuts, coconut and pineapple – three Island icons. And that's why they call it “Hawaiian.” No hula skirt or ukulele required.

Ingredients

• YELLOW CAKE MIX, 1 package
• CRUSHED PINEAPPLE, 20-ounce can drained, reserve juice
• CREAM CHEESE, 8-ounce package
• INSTANT VANILLA PUDDING, 3-ounce package
• COLD MILK, 1 cup
• COOL WHIP, 9-ounce container
• CHOPPED MACADAMIA NUTS and SHREDDED COCONUT

Directions

1. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, using the reserved pineapple juice and water for the liquid called for in the directions.
2. Bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes in a greased and floured 9-1/2 x 13 pan. Cool in pan, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, blend together cream cheese, pudding mix and milk until smooth. Fold in drained pineapple.
4. Spread over top of cake, cover with whipped topping and sprinkle with nuts and coconut. Refrigerate.

Apple Slab Pie

Yeah, yeah, I know. It looks like a banana convention
in a sea of milk.

This delicious recipe was posted on Facebook; it looked simple enough, so I copied it.

However, I made a mistake: When I laid out the pie crust in the baking pan, I had run out of parchment, so I lined the pan with aluminum foil. Forgot to spray it with Pam and when I tried to cut the cooked slab, I kind of tore up the bottom crust because it had stuck in places to the foil.

Next time, it’s parchment paper for me … which it should have been this time, had I not been so lazy and to buy a roll first

To get the crust square when prepping with the rolling pin, you can do what I did and trim off the curved sides, adding them to the right and left side to extend it.

Or, do it the easy way and just roll it out into a bigger circle, flatten it with the rolling pin, and bend the circumference upward before arranging the apple slices.

Also, I made the glaze in a Zip-Loc bag and cut off a piece of the corner so I could make fancy dribbled onto the finished slab. I needn’t have bothered, I could have just spooned it on, because the glaze just settled into the spaces between the apple slices.

Ingredients

• PILLSBURY PIE CRUSTS, 1 box, softened as directed on box
• GRANULATED SUGAR, 1 cup
• ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, 3 tablespoons
• GROUND CINNAMON, 1 teaspoon
• GROUND NUTMEG, 1/4 teaspoon
• SALT, ¼ teaspoon salt
• LEMON JUICE, 1½ tablespoons
• APPLES, 9 cups (9 medium), peeled and thinly sliced
• POWDERED SUGAR, 1 cup
• MILK, 2 tablespoons

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Remove pie crusts from pouches. Stack on a lightly floured surface, unroll and then roll to 17 x 12-inch rectangle.
3. Fit crust into 15 x 10 x 1-inch pan, pressing into corners. Fold extra crust under, even with edges of pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice.
5. Add apples, stirring to coat, then spoon or arrange the apple mixture into the crust-lined pan.
6. Bake for 30 to 33 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.
7. Cool in pan on cooling rack for 45 minutes.
8. In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and milk until well blended. Drizzle over pie.
9. Let stand until glaze is set, about 30 minutes, then slice and serve.

Trisha’s Skillet Apple Pie

This recipe is from the Food Network’s cooking show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, hosted by country singing star Trisha Yearwood (wife of Garth Brooks). It looked so easy that I just had to try it. If you like sweet Southern desserts, then this is the apple pie for you.

Her recipe calls for one can of apple pie filling, but I increased it to two, drained.

Unfortunately, my cast iron skilled is a 12-incher, which proved too big for this recipe. So I ended up finishing it off in my regular deep-dish pie casserole.

I have to say it’s too sweet for my liking, and although using canned apple-pie filling makes everything a whole lot easier, the finished product is much too sweet. I miss the crunch you get when you use fresh apples.

Still, I like the butter and brown sugar concept at the bottom – it produces a crunchy bottom crust.

Ingredients

• UNSALTED BUTTER, ½ cup (1 stick)
• LIGHT BROWN SUGAR, 1 cup
• PIE CRUSTS (e.g.  Pillsbury ) 2
• APPLE PIE FILLING, Two 21-ounce cans
• CINNAMON SUGAR, 2 tablespoons

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet; set aside 1 tablespoon of the melted butter for the top crust.
3. To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and melt them together on medium heat, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and line the skillet with one of the pie crusts.
5. Pour the apple pie filling over the crust and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar. 
6. Use the second pie crust to cover the filling. Brush the top with the reserved melted butter, then evenly sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar on top. Cut vents in the middle of the pie.
7. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot, topped with a generous dollop of cinnamon whipped cream.

Cinnamon Whipped Cream

• WHIPPING CREAM, 2 cups, chilled (I used Cool Whip, myself)
• GROUND CINNAMON, 1 teaspoon
• SUGAR, 4 tablespoons

1. Chill a large metal mixing bowl and a wire beater attachment in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
2. Pour the cream, cinnamon and sugar into the cold mixing bowl and beat 2-3 minutes until soft peaks form.

Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Quick Bread

Last October, when the wife and I were browsing in the Ala Moana Center’s Williams-Sonoma store, I picked up a package of their Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Quick Bread mix, fully intending to put it together during the Fall holiday season.

Well, things being the way they are, I put it away in the cupboard and didn’t get to it until a month or so ago.

It's a snap to make. All you do is mix the contents of the package with a cup of water, two eggs and a stick of melted butter. Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan (or use paper muffin cups) and bake 20 to 30 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean and dry.

Make sure to rotate the pan so all the tops brown evenly.

Then, after removing them from the pan and cooling them off on a rack, slather cream-cheese frosting all over the top and decorated with some cute candy sprinkles.

The frosting consists of a stick of soft butter, a cup of soft cream cheese, a cup of powdered sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Combine the ingredients until smooth, and then ice the muffin tops with a butter knife or any other flat utensil.

 

I made 16 muffins with the mix, but you can make it as a loaf in a bread pan. Or, I guess, you can make cookies out of the mix.

Delicious!

 

Apple-Pinoli Bread Pudding

Pinoli are shelled pine nuts with a very distinctive and mild nutty flavor all their own. This recipe is a “tinkered-with” recipe of one I have used for a while, this time adding in some chopped apples and toasted pinoli instead of my usual raisins.

Use a stale French baguette (the skinny, long loaf); the staler and drier the bread is, the better it will soak in the custard liquid. If your bread is fresh, dry it in the refrigerator overnight. That’ll do the trick.

If you bake it for 45 minutes, the top will be nice and crusty, and the inside pretty moist. If you prefer a drier bread pudding, then leave it longer in the oven.

Ingredients

• BREAD, 1 French baguette
• BUTTER, 4 tablespoons, melted
• EGGS, 8 beaten
• MILK or HALF AND HALF, 4 cups
• SUGAR, 1½ cups
• CINNAMON POWDER, 2 teaspoons
• NUTMEG, ½ teaspoon
• VANILLA EXTRACT, 4 teaspoons
• PINE NUTS, ¼ to ½ cups, shelled and lightly stove-top toasted
• APPLE, 1 large, ½-inch diced

Directions

1. Using a serrated bread knife, cut the French baguette bread in half lengthwise, then cut each half in half the same way. Cut crosswise into 1-inch cubes (see the introduction, re drying the bread overnight if necessary).
2. Prepare the pine nuts and apple; combine them with the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the bread cubes.
3. Let it soak for a while (15 minutes should be okay, as long as the bread becomes wet throughout.
4. Pour the bread mixture into an 11x9 pan and spread evenly.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour in a 350˚ oven.
6. Remove from oven and let stand for a half-hour before serving.

Almond Float

One of the popular desserts found at family potlucks and gatherings in Hawaii, and in many chop suey houses, is almond float. And despite its name, you will NOT find almond nuts floating around in the dessert.

This is one of the easiest desserts (not to mention tastiest) that you can make and serve. It’s so easy, even a child can do it, although you may want to use a can opener for the kid.

The recipe calls for canned fruit cocktail but you can use fresh fruit if you so desire. The dessert can be prepared in advance and refrigerated until it’s time to eat. This recipe makes enough almond float dessert for 4 to 6 people.

Ingredients

·         UNFLAVORED GELATIN (Knox), 1 tablespoon

·         COLD WATER, 2/3 cup

·         SUGAR, 2 tablespoons

·         BOILING WATER, 2/3 cup

·         EVAPORATED MILK, 2/3 cup

·         ALMOND EXTRACT, 1½ teaspoons

·         FRUIT COCKTAIL, 1 can (15 ounced) with syrup

·         LITCHEE, 1 can (15 ounces) with syrup

Directions

1.       Pour the gelatin into the cold water and soften for a few minutes.

2.       Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water.

3.       Stir the evaporated milk into the sugar water.

4.       Add in the softened gelatin mixture and stir in the almond extract.

5.       Pour the gelatin into a baking pan and chill until firm.

6.       When the gelatin is set, this is your “almond float.” Cut the almond float into 1-inch cubes and served with the canned fruit and its syrup.

Easy Pleasy Apple Pie

This one’s easy, because I use refrigerated premade crust that I get at the supermarket … most likely Pillsbury. All you have to do is mix the dry ingredients and add them to the apples. Then, pour everything into the crust and bake.

I use two types of apples – Granny Smith for tartness and body, and Fuji for sweetness.

Ingredients

• BROWN SUGAR, ¾ cup, light (or white sugar will do as well)
• FLOUR, ¼ cup, all-purpose
• SALT, ¼ teaspoon
• CINNAMON, ¾ teaspoon, ground
• NUTMEG, to taste
• APPLES, 3 Fuji + 3 Granny Smith
• LEMON, 1, zest + juice
• BUTTER, 3 tablespoons, cold and diced
• EGG WASH
• SUGAR, to sprinkle on top crust

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Mix sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.
3. Peel, core, and cut apples into wedges.
4. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning, and toss.
5. Evenly coat the apples with the sugar mixture, sprinkling in some lemon zest if you are so inclined, otherwise, keep the zest for another recipe in the future.
6. Line a 9-inch pie tin with one crust.
7. Mound the apples in the crusted pie pan.
8. Dot the apples with the diced butter.
9. Cover with the second crust and seal the pie by crimping around the circumference.
10. Cut four 2-inch slits in the top, radiating outward from about an inch or two from the center.
11. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle on some cinnamon and sugar.
12. Bake on center rack for 45 minutes, take out of oven and let the pie rest for 20 minutes.