Apple Crisp

Apple crisp has been one of my desserts of choice since I first had its cinnamon-y, brown sugary, apple-y goodness as a dessert in our elementary school cafeteria.  The lunch ladies knew how to scoop it up and serve mounds of sweet deliciousness in those brown speckled melamine bowls I'll always remember.

Even as an adult dining out at restaurants, if apple crisp was on the menu, apple crisp was my dessert.  Oh, and strawberry shortcake.  If both were offered, I might forgo dinner for two desserts.  That's how much I love them.

Funny thing about apple crisp, though.  Just a few ingredients but not everyone gets it right.  I mean it has to have oatmeal in it. That's what makes it crispy.   Don't be messing me about with lumps of flour.  And it has to have brown sugar.  Simple rules, but when followed, simply divine.  One could eat this with a side of melting vanilla ice cream or mountains of whipped cream, but I am a purist.  Just a spoon and a generous portion of apple crisp and you won't hear a word from me.  Is mmm-mmm a word?

APPLE CRISP

3/4 cup quick oatmeal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter plus a little additional for greasing the baking dish
1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon
4-6 apples or even a couple more

Butter an 8 x 8 inch (or 9 x 9 inch) baking dish.

Peel and slice apples as you would for an apple pie and spread evenly in baking dish.

Combine the other ingredients, but leave the mixture crumbly. Sprinkle over the apples.

Bake at 350F for about 35 minutes or until a knife easily pierces the cooked apple. Can be served hot with ice cream. Equally delicious cold.

COOK'S NOTES:  Truth be told, I use 6 to 8 apples as I like a lot of apples. Also, I use a mix of apples, Macintosh and Granny Smith as a rule.  Since moving to Arizona, the Macintosh isn't readily available, so I switched to Crispin I think they're called.  I use an 8" x 8" pan because I like the look of abundance in the pan and consequently in the dessert dish, grins.

Easy Cheesecake

Easy Cheesecake

I'm a fan of easy and I'm a fan of cheesecake, and when you combine the two, you've easily have a winner in my book of life.

There are certain recipe sources that I return to again and again for no-fail recipes that rarely fail to inspire or please, and the good people at King Arthur Flour is one of those.  When I lived in New England and within easy driving distance of their store, I was an occasional shopper of their Norwich, Vermont store and just loved oogling at all their fabulous merchandise and baking supplies.  This isn't an advertisement for them, just rattling on about shopping, I guess.  There were a couple of other really super cookware shops that I frequented in Vermont; it's just this recipe happens to come from KAF, hence why I mention it.

Moving on, this is a very nice cheesecake.  Full disclosure, it's not as good as my all time favorite New York cheesecake, but if you want a simple cheesecake that is simple, simple, simple, creamy smooth, and delicious flavor, I think you won't find many better than this one.  I think it took me longer to haul out the few ingredients and my cooking tools than it did to put this together.

My boyfriend took a tentative taste test and then couldn't stay away from it.  He liked it far more than I did, and I liked it, but as I said, this is very good.

EASY CHEESECAKE
Original recipe found at King Arthur Flour here for additional details and hints.

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about one and a half packages, more or less)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup melted butter (equivalent of 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon)
1/8 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

Filling
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese (at room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping of Choice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix the crust ingredients together and pour into a 9-inch pie plate.  Press the crust the ingredients up the sides and on the bottom of the pan, making the thicker bottom than the sides.

Cream together the room-temperature cream cheese and the sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and the vanilla and again mix until smooth.  Pour the filling into the waiting crust.

Place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes.  Add a crust shield or cover with a "hedge row" of tin foil so the crust won't overbrown.  Bake for an additional ten minutes.  The center will look slightly wobbly but it will be done.

Remove from the oven and let cool and set it on a rack to cool.  Make topping.  Cover pie and refrigerate.  Best after several hours to allow the flavors to meld.

RASPBERRY SAUCE

12 ounce bag frozen, unsweetened raspberries (about 12 ounces) divided
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon butter

Stir together 1 1/2 cups of raspberries, sugar and water in a saucepan.  Stirring frequently heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is boiling.

Reduce the heat and stir in the vanilla.

In a small cup combine the cornstarch and water, mixing well.

While stirring the raspberry mixture, slowly add the cornstarch slurry so it doesn't clump.  Continue stirring and cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens and looses its cloudy appearance and looks clear, about 4 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Add the butter and mix until the butter has been incompletely incorporated.

Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes, then add the remaining berries and stir to mix.

COOK'S NOTES:  This cheesecake was definitely better the second day, so I would suggest several hours of cooling at least, or maybe overnight.  But if you're in a hurry and need dessert right away, no judgment from me if you cut into it after only a couple of hours, grins.

When I made the raspberry sauce, I totally did not see that the raspberries were divided and just dumped the whole bag into the saucepan at the beginning and cooked them.  Worked fine for me, though whole raspberries might have made a prettier presentation.  I found that the sauce was not thick enough for me, so I made another little batch of the slurry (the 2 teaspoons of water and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch) and added that.  Much more to my liking.

Cottage Pudding with Warm Lemon Sauce

Cottage Pudding with Warm Lemon Sauce

There are certain recipes that have stood the test of time and taste that reside firmly planted in my heart. Most of those foods I relate to my beloved grandmother, whose humility and simplicity and generosity of heart  left an indelible picture of how a life of gratitude should be lived.  It was she whom I wanted to model myself after. Sadly, I've missed the mark by a mile but I'm still working on it.

The one thing I can do is make some of her recipes, which I do several times a year and it gives me time to reflect on our times together, standing in the kitchen of her tiny two-room house that was filled with so much love that it should've burst open like the wild, fragrant roses she kept in her garden.  I can still see her in a tired old bib apron that she would never toss out because it "still had some life in it" and saving her other aprons for Sunday best when we'd go to her house for dinner.

One of the first desserts I ever learned to make was cottage pudding with warm lemon sauce.  My grandmother had a Rumford Baking Powder cookbook, published in the early 1900's, and I think it was one of the two or three that she ever owned in her entire life.  I have it tucked away somewhere; the pages are yellow and crumbling, and it has to be handled ever so gently but this recipe was among them.  Even as a child I loved lemon, and that warm lemon sauce over the simplest of cakes was a glimpse into heaven, I think.  This particular recipe I found on the internet but it's as good as I remember.

Not sure why this is called cottage pudding.  I would serve it in a cottage; I would serve it in a palace.

COTTAGE PUDDING WITH WARM LEMON SAUCE

1/4 cup butter (one half stick butter)
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I reduced to 1/4 teaspoon because I use salted butter)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

LEMON SAUCE

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt (about 1/8th teaspoon)
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
1 tablespoon butter

Grease and flour and 8" x 8" baking pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

FOR THE CAKE:
Cream butter in mixing bowl.  Gradually add sugar, mixing well.  Add egg, beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add as thirds, alternating with half the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mixing in between.  Add the vanilla, mix.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until toothpick tests clean.  Allow to cook in pan for ten minutes.  Remove from pan and allow to cool completely. Cut into 8 rectangles, 2" x 4" in size.

FOR THE SAUCE:
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan and whisk to combine ingredients. Gradually add the water and lemon juice and whisk until smooth.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, translucent.  Add butter and stir.  Use warm over cake.

COOK'S NOTES:  Cake keeps well for a couple of days and on its own it seems to be typically on the drier side; you definitely need the lemon sauce.  Lemon sauce seems to be best on the day it's made.  It will reheat but it's not really at its optimum.

Simple, Sweet, Pineapple Cream Cheese Squares

I'm a great believer that food does not have to be complicated or have a multitude of ingredients in order to be tasty or appreciated.  This little cake is a perfect example.

If you want something simple and sweet, you don't have a lot of time or a lot of ingredients, these sweet pineapple-filled squares are delicious. I'm not joking when I say they're sweet; this little square of scrumptiousness will more than likely satisfy the most demanding sweet tooth.

This is a thin cake, made in a small jelly roll pan.  The recipe calls for a half sheet pan, which measures 15 inches by 11 inches, so this is a good sized cake for to make for a crowd.  Good news is, even if you don't have a crowd, the cake keeps nicely, if well wrapped, for a couple of days in the fridge.  Just let it come to room temperature before serving.

PINEAPPLE CREAM CHEESE SQUARES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a jelly roll pan or half-sheet cake pan.

In  a large bowl, combine all the ingredients in the order given:
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple with its juice**
2 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
dash salt

 Mix ingredients and then spread evenly into pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, being careful not to overbake.  When cool, frost with cream cheese frosting

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 stick (1/4 pound, 8 tablespoons) butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash salt

Cream together and then add 2 cups of powdered confectioners' sugar.  Mix well and spread on cooled cake.  Add chopped nuts as desired,

Cut into squares to serve.

COOK'S NOTES:   I didn't have a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, but I did have a 20 ounce can of pineapple rings.  I whizzed it through my mini food processor and it worked a charm.

Pretty Darned Good Chewy Brownies

In all honestly, I don't suppose the web really needs one more picture of brownies, grins.  But I'm thinking that no blog is complete without at least one brownie post so this one is mine.

Back (several!) decades ago when I was took home ec in high school, our teacher gave us a little tri-fold pamphlet from (I think) Hershey's chocolate that maybe had a half a dozen recipes on it.  One of the recipes was the best brownies I've ever eaten in my entire life.  Now, through numerous moves and not realizing what I treasure I really had, I've since lost that recipe, and for whatever reason it's a recipe that Hershey's no longer has available.  And I've looked.  High and low.  Asked on recipe sites.  Bought a old-fashioned Hershey cookbook.  Googled.  It's gone, gone, gone.  I think it's probably because it was a little more work that most brownie recipes; as I recall it asked for both powdered chocolate, as well as melting chocolate squares, and nowadays, who has time for that?  Well, for that recipe, I'd make time.

Anyway, enough grief sharing over lost treasures.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I dislike fudgy brownies.  BIG dislike.  Even bigger than that:  frosted brownies.  No words.  Then again, I'm not a fan of cakey brownies. Not the BIG dislike of their fudgy or frosted cousins but I can give them a pass.  Enter the chewy brownie, that compromise that seems to say, hey, I'm not a wannabe fudge candy or a wannabe cake.  I am my own brownie.

I'm going to keep looking for that elusive perfect brownie recipe from decades ago, but in the meantime, this recipe is pretty darned good.

CHEWY CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

1 2/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 stick), melted
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 9 inch x 9 inch baking pan and set aside.

Combine sugar, butter and water in a large bowl.  Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.  Combine flour, cocoa and baking powder and salt in medium bowl and add to the wet mixture. Stir in nuts.

Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few sticky crumbs. Let cool before cutting into squares.

A Slice of Sunshine - Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

Heavens, I love pie, maybe even more than cake.  I like pie so much, I include it in the long list of endearments for our kitties.  Maggie-Pie, Molly-Pie, Fluffy-Pie.  And of course, Sweetie-pie, but he's of the two-legged variety of pie, grins.  

Did you know that Arizona was second only to California to lemon production?  I had absolutely no idea—I thought all citrus came from Florida.  Orange trees abound here, boughs leaning heavy over brick walls, fabulous orange globes sold at local farmers' markets; one of my co-workers brings in the hugest, juiciest grapefruit I've ever seen in my entire life.  You bite into a grapefruit section and juice squirts and pours down your chin and you have to hurl your body into a 45 degree angle and mop your face before that sweet juice hits your chest and stains your favorite shirt and becomes testimony to your grapefruit greed. No bagfuls of lemons on the sharing table, though.  How can that be?  Too commonplace?  I figured it was all novelty and whimsy and supernatural, kind of like trying to grow roses here.

But lo and behold, Arizona sunshine is to lemons as lemons are to Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie, or something like that.  

If you like a pie that's big on lemon flavor, is super fast to make (it's made in a blender and uses the entire lemon, sans seeds, of course) and is family and company worthy, this one is good!  I'll present the recipe as originally written, and then add my own thoughts in Cook's Notes.

ARIZONA SUNSHINE LEMON PIE

1 large lemon, well washed and rinsed

4 large eggs

8 tablespoons butter (4 ounces or one stick)

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

whipped topping

single, uncooked pie crust, your own or store bought, for a 9" pie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Leaving rind on, cut lemon in large chunks, remove seeds.  Pour all ingredients into a blender (or food processor) and process until smooth.  Pour into pie crust and bake for about 40 minutes.  If crust becomes too brown, cover it with tin foil.  Test with a toothpick for doneness.  Let cool before serving.  Refrigerate after cooled.

COOK'S NOTES:  I made a bit of a bigger project out of this than the recipe states.  First of all, I was concerned about the pith adding too much bitterness, so I cut the lemon flesh away from the rind, removed maybe half of the pith and then tossed the lemon peel and flesh into the blender.  Because I removed the pith, I added another half lemon, peel and flesh, minus pith, to the blender.  Besides, how large is a large lemon?  It's all in the eye of the beholder.  I wanted to see the lemon texture before going ahead so I added the sugar and vanilla and blended that first. Then I added the eggs and butter and gave it a few more spins in the blender, combining all ingredients well.

Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

This pie was a tad on the sweet side but not cloyingly so.  Regardless, for my personal tastes, I might add more lemon or less sugar the next time I make this.