Tag: desserts

Don’t Try This at Home

50 Comments

It’s our last night of Welsh cuisine, for this little stint at least, and you know what that means. It’s dessert time! We came across the recipe for an apple pastry in our Welsh cookbook. The description reads, “Although traditionally cooked on a griddle…this apple pie can be baked in the oven.” But that’s like a dare isn’t it?! At least it was to us, we weren’t about to bake this in the oven. We all know apple pies are fabulous in the oven, and we’re no strangers to them around here, but an apple pie on a griddle?? That’s a new one.

We began our Apple Skillet Pie by whipping up our all butter, double pie crust (the same one we used for our blueberry pie this summer). Then we mixed up our standard apple pie filling. This time we used a combo of Granny Smith apples and McIntosh apples.

We then tossed in some white sugar, dark brown sugar, lemon juice, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and a tiny pinch of ground cloves. Continue reading →

The Cake

37 Comments

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a great night with my family. The kids spent the evening in Grammie’s craft box making me bouquets of flowers, cakes, ice cream and decorative plates. They had so much fun! My dad worked the grill, as the sun finally poked its head out. He made a delicious barbecue chicken with Vidalia onion bbq sauce. It was super juicy and grilled to perfection. The whole evening was perfect – lots of great food, laughter and reminiscence.

In the kitchen with my dad. Now he’s a climbing apparatus for my kids!

But now on to why you came here today. The cake. It’s not fancy and it’s not a batter from scratch, but my goodness if this isn’t the best darn cake out there. Well, maybe there are better ones, but you’ll never convince me otherwise. It’s so moist and so darned full of wonderful pumpkin and spice flavors, and it’s covered in cream cheese frosting! Continue reading →

Sweet, Sweet Memories

46 Comments

As promised, tonight we’re concluding our Maine recipes (We won’t make you wait anymore Caroline! 🙂 ), and what would a trip to Maine be without the traditional Maine Blueberry Pie. We couldn’t think of a more fitting end to both our trip and our Maine posts.

So without further adieu…We began by making a butter crust. I love to make pie crusts. I have several favorite recipes – the all-shortening crust for my Grandma’s blackberry cobbler and a shortening and butter crust for apple pies; but when it comes to blueberry pie, I like a good, all butter crust.

We started by sifting together the flour and salt and then we cut in the cold butter. I didn’t have my trusty pastry blender on hand at the cabin, so I used two knives to create coarse crumbs. Continue reading →

A Cure for a Case of the Mondays

54 Comments

We’ve got one more recipe from the Niagara region of Ontario before we head off to a new international destination. This recipe again features the deliciously sweet and wonderfully inventive Ice Syrup, only this time we’re whipping up a dessert…because I need a dessert.

We chose to adapt a recipe from Lynn Ogryzlo who has created 1,400 recipes, most of which are dedicated to the seasons of Niagara. Our choice for this week is what we’re calling a Blueberry Ice Crumble.

We started by beating one egg to be cut into the dough.  Continue reading →

Quest for the Best Banana Bread – Ontario Style

36 Comments

Like the Falls, our quest keeps on going.

It’s back! Our quest for the best banana bread. This is our sixth installment and we still have a few more recipes to go.  Tonight’s Canadian version was sent to us by A_Boleyn and adapted from Edna Staebler’s Food That Really Schmecks. Edna Staebler is a Canadian author, known for a series of cookbooks which are based on Mennonite home cooking from the Waterloo region of Ontario. It only seemed fitting to include this recipe while we’re on our Ontario cooking adventure.

The recipe began in a familiar way. We creamed the shortening, eggs and sugar in a bowl.

My little sous chef was on hand as usual for the banana bread. She’ll be able to make this stuff in her sleep soon! Continue reading →

A Little Therapy for Mom

42 Comments

While it always feels good to return home after a vacation, it also takes a few days to get back into the swing of things. We’ve got laundry to catch up on, groceries to shop for, friends and family to catch up with, sleep schedules to readjust, cats to clean up after (apparently they were having quite the party without us) and loads of work and bills to catch up on. Fortunately we have some good memories to get us through – that and pie crust.

Pie crusts, for me, are therapy. I’m not sure what it is about rolling out a fresh crust, but it’s something I’ve enjoyed since we were first married. My first crust was a butter and shortening crust, but once I started making my Grandma’s blackberry cobbler, I began working with the double shortening crust. Pie crusts challenge me every time, give a true sense of accomplishment and most importantly, make for amazing desserts. They are also something that I like to tackle alone. Just me and the pie crust.

I start by sifting together the flour, salt and sugar and slicing in chunks of vegetable shortening.

Continue reading →