A little bit fussy

Apple Dumplings

A little bit fussy, Homebakers Collective Challenge
I really think this is the best apple dessert. Have an obligatory bowl of soup for dinner and then dig in.

Syrup:

  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 4 tablespoons butter

Crust:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup milk

Apples:

  • 6 Apples, peeled and cored
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • granulated sugar for sprinkling

Make Syrup: Combine brown sugar, water, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in butter until melted. Set aside.

Make Crust: Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until the butter is the size of small peas (or use a food processor). Stir in milk all at once and form into a dough.

Peel and core 6 medium apples. Stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Preheat oven to 375°F.

Roll out dough into a 18″x12″ rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 6-inch squares. Place a whole apple in each square. Stuff the core of each apple generously with the spiced brown sugar and dot with a pad of butter. Moisten the edges of the square and fold the corners up to the center of the apple. Pinch the edges together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough squares and place about 1-inch apart in a large ungreased baking pan.

Pour syrup over the dumplings. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 35 minutes.

Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

Cookies & Cream Chiffon Pie

A little bit fussy, Pie
I got out the good china for this pie – it’s a light chocolate-flecked vanilla mousse in a chocolate cookie crumb crust. It’s the devil’s food because it is so light and tasty you can end up eating the whole dang thing if you’re not careful.
  • 9″ chocolate cookie crust, baked and cooled
  • 1 tablespoon unflavored gelain
  • 1/2 cup sugar, divided
  • pinch salt
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon rum extract
  • 1/3 cup chocolate pailletés, or shaved chocolate

Combine gelatin, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Add egg yolks and milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the gelatin dissolves and the mixtures thickens slightly, just enough to coat a spoon. Chill to room temperature.

Beat heavy cream with vanilla and rum extracts until thick. Fold gently into the custard mixture.

Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites and chocolate pailletés into the custard and cream mixture gently until thoroughly combined.

Pour into prepared chocolate crust and chill until set, at least 4 hours.

Peach Pie

A little bit fussy, Pie
Nothing tastes like summer more than peach pie. I did a cost-benefit analysis to determine if turning the oven on when it’s 99°F outside is worth the pie, and the pie won.

Double Pie Crust:

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 TBSP sugar
  • 1 stick cold butter (115g), cut into pieces
  • 1/3 cup lard (70g), cup into pieces
  • 1/3 cup ice water

Peach Filling:

  • 5 cups sliced fresh peaches
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 3 TBSP cornstarch
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • pinch salt
  • 1 TBSP lemon juice
  • 2 TBSP butter
  • 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • cinnamon sugar for top ( 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, stirred to combine)

Combine flour, salt and sugar in food processor. Add butter and lard and pulse until the butter pieces are no larger than peas. Add ice water and pulse until dough just comes together, about 5 times.

Divide dough in half. Form each half into a disc. Roll out each disc between two pieces of wax paper, peeling the paper and flipping the crust over to make rolling easier and uniform.

Line pie plate with bottom crust. Keep top crust between two pieces of wax paper and refrigerate both until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Dip peaches in boiling water for a few seconds. Peel and slice into bite-sized pieces. Combine peaches with sugars, cornstarch, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice and almond extract.

Pour peaches into prepared pie crust. Top with second crust (either in a lattice pattern or leave plain) and crimp edges. Cut slits in top crust if not using a lattice top.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 450°F for 20 minutes. Place foil on the bottom rack of the oven to catch drips and reduce heat to 350°F. Bake for 45 minutes more until the filling is bubbling in the center of the pie. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Grasshopper Pie

A little bit fussy, Pie
Happy Pi Day! No one could talk me out of making this grasshopper pie – it’s light and tasty and goes down easy. Which is a good thing since I’ll have to make this about 20 more times now that I have this entire bottle of creme de menthe.

Chocolate Cookie Crust:

  • 2 1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (chocolate graham crackers, nabisco wafers, etc)
  • 4 TBSP unsalted butter

Grasshopper Filling:

  • 3 TBSP sugar
  • 1 package unflavored gelatin
  • 1/2 cup creme de menthe
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 4 egg whites
  • 3 TBSP sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Sweetened Whipped Cream Topping:

  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 TBSP sugar

Chocolate Ganache Drizzle:

  • 75g dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Make Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter. Pat into the bottom and up the sides of a 9″ pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to Cool.

Make Filling: Whisk together sugar, gelatin and creme de menthe in a small saucepan. Whisk in egg yolks. Whisk over medium heat until thickened – about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat just before the mixture starts to boil (bubbles around the sides of the pan are fine). Transfer to a bowl and let come to room temperature – stirring occasionally.

Beat egg whites until frothy. Gradually add in 3 tablespoons of sugar. Beat until firm peaks. Set aside.

Whip heavy cream in another bowl. Combine cooled creme de menthe mixture with the whipped cream – folding until smooth.

Gently fold egg whites into the creme de menthe/whipped cream mixture until combined. Pour into cooled chocolate crust. You may have filling leftover. Chill.

Make Sweetened Whipped Cream: Beat cream and sugar together until stiff. Top the pie with whipped cream – by piping or spreading. Chill.

Make Ganache Drizzle: Heat heavy cream in a small liquid measuring cup in the microwave until hot but not boiling. Add chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the chilled pie. Chill until ready to serve.

Butterfinger Candy

A little bit fussy, Candy
I’m not sure it’s a good thing to know how to make butterfingers. I made them for Valentine’s Day and I am already thinking about when I can have an excuse to make them again.
  • 1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3/4 cup corn syrup
  • 1 TBSP butter

Special equipment:

  • candy thermometer
  • silicon molds

Preheat oven to 200°F. Stir peanut butter and salt together in a large, heatproof bowl. Place bowl in preheated oven to keep warm.

Combine vanilla and baking soda in a small bowl and keep handy next to the stove.

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once sugar has dissolved, attach a candy thermometer and cook until the syrup reaches 285°F.

Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla – the mixture will foam.

Carefully take peanut butter out of oven and fold in foaming syrup – fold together until the mixture is somewhat combined but there are still streaks of peanut butter throughout. The mixture will become quite stiff.

Working quickly while the mixture is still warm, divide among your silicon molds. Any molds will work, but I like these to be about 3/4″ to 1″ thick, so I don’t fill my molds all the way to the top. Any extra can be molded on parchment paper. The cooled bars don’t cut well, but you can break them up into shards which are just as tasty.

Let the butterfingers cool and harden for a couple hours or overnight. Remove from molds and dip in chocolate. Crispity crunchity.