52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Week 5 - Teeny Tiny Pies

Can I just say that I am loving this challenge? I know I'm the only person who will be disappointed in myself if I don't finish, but I've really been enjoying forcing myself to make the time to try something new each week! Even if I'm tired, busy or uninspired, I will push myself to do something that week! 

With that said, I'm OBSESSED with this one…

I originally got the idea for this week's recipe from my version of food blog porn, The Smitten Kitchen. Side note: I love everything about this blog. The food-tography, the recipes, the overall feel and personality of the blog…it's like when I get to buy bridal magazines, find a new craft blog, or get to watch a Martha Stewart holiday special: perfection. When my new kitchen guru started this project, she almost didn't share it with her readers because she thought it was too much work and "overly precious." There are no better words to describe this recipe than "overly precious." 

I won't lie and say that I did things the same way that they were done on the Smitten Kitchen blog because, as she said, they were too much work. In fact, once I realized how much I had to get done before our trip to Florida to see our buddies, Randi and Kristina, I knew I had to find a different version of this recipe that was a little less involved. I found a great one, but then I decided to make it up on my own. So, here you've got a recipe that, unfortunately, has very few specifics:

Teeny Tiny Apple Pies:

1 bag of apples (minus 3 because I got tired of cutting them and figured I had enough and it worked perfectly) 

3-6 tbsp white sugar

2-5 tbsp brown sugar

some allspice

some nutmeg

some cinnamon

2 tbsp cornstarch

water

lemon juice

2 boxes of store-bought pie crusts (gasp! I know…but sometimes you just don't have time)

Extra sugar and spice mix

1 egg

First things first, fill up a bowl with water and lemon juice. When you finish peeling each apple, put it into this bowl so that the apples don't turn brown. It doesn't matter what color apple you use. I like granny smith apples the best, so that's what I used. After peeling all the apples you think you'll need (it's best to leave a couple unpeeled. If you decide you need more, you can always peel and cut them later, but if you peel the entire bag, like I did, you'll end up throwing away 3 perfectly good apples because you're going out of town and can't leave a bowl of peeled apples and lemon water on the counter. If you do, you'll get bugs), begin cutting them into little bits. I tried to get mine as small as possible. If someone knows of an easy way to cut all those apples into small bits, please let me know. Better yet, if there is some sort of machine that will peel them, core them and slice them, please direct me to it and I will thank you greatly. I plan on making this recipe again fairly soon because they were delicious and I want it to be a bit easier. 

I placed my apple bits in a little water/lemon mixture as well. I hate brown apples. Once you've cut up enough (I know I should have a measurement here, but I just don't. Sorry) apple bits, move them into a sauce pan with a little water and sugar, dissolved and almost boiling. I said 3-6 tbsp for 2 reasons: 1. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing and 2. I was just looking to get a thicker consistency for my apple mixture. Once almost boiling, add the white and brown sugar and the rest of the spices. I should have done this, but didn't: dissolve your cornstarch in a little water before you add it to the mixture. If you don't you'll end up with little clumps of cornstarch in the pies and it will make you mad.

Boil everything for about a minute and then let simmer for 10 minutes. Feel free to taste test your handiwork. You want to make sure it's a perfect balance between sweet and tart and that your apples aren't too mushy. 

While you're simmering down now, you can roll out your pie crusts until they're just a bit thinner. You don't want them too thin, or else everything will fall apart. I found one of Evan's beer sample glasses (from Sweetwater Brewery) that holds about 4-6 oz to use as my pie crust cutter. I cut as many circles as I could from all 4 of the pie crusts (I got the Pillsbury kind because they were on sale for 5 for $5 at Publix and they each held 2 pie crusts) and set them on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. 

I lined them up 2 by 2, like Noah's animals…you've got to have a bottom and a top for each pie. For the top, make sure you cut 4 little slits in the crust. For the bottom, wet the outer edge slightly with water; this will help the two pie pieces to stick together. Put about 1/2 spoonful of the apple filling on each bottom crust. Place the slotted crust on top and press down the edges with a fork. Aren't they adorable already?

When you've filled up one cookie sheet, crack an egg and mix a little water in with it and "wash" each pie with the mixture. Since pie crusts take a little while to brown in the oven and we're only making tiny pies that bake for a considerably shorter period of time, the egg mix will help brown things nicely. Also, it helps the sugar and spice mixture stick to the crust. Oh yeah, sprinkle with the sugar and spice mixture. 

Place your full cookie sheet (you can load these up since they don't expand) in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes, or until nicely browned and get cracking on the next batch. 

Please, let them cool before you attempt to eat them. I'm speaking from experience here. I was really anxious to try them and really hungry when they came out of the oven! Seriously, let them cool or you won't be able to enjoy any food for about 3 days. :( 

There you go…aren't they adorable? 

Here are some situations in which these would be the most adorable food-gifts ever:

• Housewarming present for your in-laws who are watching your dog for the weekend in their new house(thanks, Martha and David! Cali enjoyed herself!)
• Get well present for your sick friends who are letting you borrow their dog crate for the weekend so that your in-laws can actually sleep at night instead of worrying about your dog and their dog conspiring against them! (thanks Stoll Family! Hope everyone is all better finally!) 
• Hostess gift for the friends you're driving down to Florida to see and haven't seen in months! (Thanks Randi and Kris for being such awesome hostesses!)
• Breakfast for same hostess friend who got stuck in the airport in Indianapolis because US Airways couldn't get their pilot there on time and then refused to give any of the 50 people on that flight vouchers for accommodations or food even though they "delayed" their flight from 8:00 pm until 7:30 the next morning. Ever spent the night in a snow globe? Randi has.
• Thank you gift for the sweetest little old lady in the world who lives in a REAL CASTLE on the Jacksonville river area and was kind enough to tell us the entire history of her house when we so rudely interrupted her gardening. Also could be used to butter her up in the future so that maybe she will invite us in to see the gorgeous architectural features she described in great detail. (I want to adopt this woman, but, since her family all lives in the houses surrounding hers, I don't think she needs anyone to take care of her…)
• First day of school lunch box treat
• Last day of school treats for the teacher
• and many, many more…

I encourage everyone to give these a try. Evan and I are actually on the way home from Jacksonville right now and I'm trying to figure out if I have time to make more before I need to go to bed tonight. I'm guessing no, but I really want to…

Eat a tiny apple pie a day, keep the frumpy grumps away! :) 

New Year, New Me, New Blog

Oh...what a weird and wonderful year 2012 was. I got married to the most amazing man and we started our lives together as husband and wife. Our puppy turned 2 and finally (thank god) calmed down enough be left alone in the house for more than 30 minutes without pooping somewhere. My kitten found a new home where she is free to frolic about and hunt those pesky rodents. I did a lot of baking, although not nearly as much as I wished. I discovered the WONDERS of the Kitchenaid stand mixer. Evan and I celebrated several weddings of our dear friends and family members and were so touched to be a part of Randi and Kristina's celebration! We really and truly feel like our world is changing and growing in only the best of ways!

New Years 2012-13
Amazing dinner, good friends and way too much champagne!

As amazing as last year was, I can only hope that 2013 has even more exciting things in store for us. That said, I have a few resolutions that I would like to share with you all:

Who wouldn't want to spend time with this face?! 

1. I will make more time for my husband. Working on the weekends and working almost an hour to an hour and a half away from home puts a strain on our relationship. Often I have come home exhausted and just wanting to curl up on the couch and fall asleep or bring work home with me. This year, I will come home and really be present with Evan. He deserves it and so do I. Since I cannot make more hours in the day, I will, instead, make sure that the time we spend together will be quality time.

2. I will bake more. I really enjoy baking. The act of taking common, plain ingredients and combining them, tweaking them, making them into something delicious and sweet...it makes me happy. I like refining my technique. I like trying new things. One day, maybe I can make a living doing these things I enjoy, but for now, I do it for me.

3. I will stop eating so many processed foods. Evan and I have talked about doing a juice fast since we saw the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" over 2 years ago. We haven't done it. Obviously. But last night, when I could not find any crackers to go with our cheese, I decided to see if I could make my own. I did. They weren't perfect, but they did the job. The best part was that I knew exactly what went into them and I didn't spend any money on them. Water crackers are ridiculously expensive and I have no clue how many preservatives on them. I am making it my goal to find healthier, homemade alternatives to the costly, preservative-filled things you find on the grocery store shelves. If anyone has any tips, please send them my way.

4. I will get better at documenting my adventures, both in and out of the kitchen. I enjoy beautiful presentations and will start taking better pictures of the methods I use and the final products. Ideally, I would like a better camera, but the one I want isn't cheap. Before I get that camera, however, I will learn more about composition and editing. There is no reason to buy an expensive camera until you can use it properly, in my opinion.

5. I will focus myself. No more letting the laundry pile up or waiting until neither one of us has underwear left. No more starting projects until I know I have all the supplies I need. I have a tendency to get overzealous about things and peter out before they are completed. How many contraptions have I bought only to use them once? Countless...I have a screen printing machine, letterpress machine, needlefelting supplies and all this other crap that is junking up my life. I've enjoyed it all (ok, except the letterpress attempts..but they didn't work out the way I wanted them to) but didn't NEED to do it. The needlefelting, while my most recent hobby, has been the most fun. Perhaps I'll keep that. But the rest, I will cleanse our house of. Which brings me to...

6. I will cleanse our house of unnecessary clutter. If I ever hope to gain control over my guest room, I need to rid it of those things I never use. I will sell this crap on craigslist. And I will not buy any new supplies until I've gotten rid of those things I don't need. I will also do this with...SHOES. You don't know the pain it causes me to say this, but I have several pairs of shoes that I haven't worn in years or have only worn once. I have a shoe problem. An addiction, some would say. I'm like Imelda, Queen of shoes and everything. I will not buy another pair of shoes until I've gotten rid of every pair of shoes I haven't worn in over a year. Anyone who wears size 7-7.5...get ready for an exquisite ebay/craigslist shoe exodus. I might go through a minor depression once all is said and done, but I believe I'll feel much better, as well.

7. Lastly, I am challenging myself to try one new recipe a week! Be it baking, dinner, dog treats, etc...I will make it, bake it, blog it. Simple as that. Have a recipe you want me to try? Let me know. 52 recipes. 52 weeks. Bring it on!

That is all the resolutions I can make for now. They're not small ones, but they're ones I need to do for myself. Wish me luck. Keep me accountable. It's on the internet now. No escaping it, right? Unless, of course, the only people reading this are my mom and my husband...eh, they'll do their part!

I will start off this Make it, Bake it, Blog it challenge with an appropriate recipe, I believe!

Champagne Cupcakes with Candied Strawberries

I found this recipe on pinterest. Of course.

Again, I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail on this recipe because it was a really long process. I'll tell you want I did wrong, though. Never use egg scramblers when a recipe calls for egg whites. These cupcakes were much too dense and chewy for my taste, but that was my fault. I should never answer the phone in the grocery store. I get distracted too easily as it is. I just grabbed the wrong thing. Also, I had to use frozen strawberries rather than fresh. This was good and bad. Good because they were much easier to slice and candy than fresh ones. Bad because I have no idea how many strawberries are in a pint and didn't find it necessary to look it up. Therefore, I don't have a clue if I measured correctly for the puree. They tasted good though. End of story.

What goes better with Christmas than Eggnog?

Answer: Nothing. 

Well, actually. Velvet Hammers go best with Christmas, but that's a post for later. 

For now, I want to tell you a little bit about these delicious eggnog cupcakes I made. 

They're not just eggnog cupcakes, though...they're Bourbon Eggnog Cupcakes with a Caramel Bourbon Eggnog Buttercream Frosting. 

They're decadent. They're moist. They're...AMAZING. 

I can't claim the creative rights to these heavenly delights. I found them on pinterest, courtesy of the Cupcake Bakeshop. 

Yeah...this batter rocked. Almost didn't make it to cupcake stage. 

But they did...eventually.

Oh...did I mention they were filled with a bourbon eggnog custard? Yep...they were!

I did make a slight change with the caramel...inadvertently. I didn't have any heavy whipping cream on hand (some silly husband didn't pick it up...but he did get everything else, so I guess I can give him a pass) so I just used eggnog in its place. Yummy! 

Just as a side note, I was inspired to create these eggnog tasties thanks to Mrs. Ruth, one of my wonderful residents. She may not be able to see very well or remember my name (ever), but that woman knows how to make some MEAN eggnog. She makes this stuff from scratch and she didn't tell me until 1/2 way through the glass that she poured me (at work, mind you) that there was 1 liter of bourbon and 1 liter of rum in it. 

I might have wanted to take a nap, but it was so worth it!

Merry Christmas, one and all!

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down...

Unless I have them off! Yay for a relaxing day off work to clean the apartment, do the laundry and...

Who are we kidding? I did nothing of the sort. 

For the vast majority of the day, I did absolutely nothing. I literally sat on my butt on the couch watching hours upon hours of "Dance Moms." I love this show. I am not ashamed. 

During this time, I felt I needed something to occupy my hands, so I set to work untangling the mess of yarn that had been created when we left a certain puppy at home alone for *gasp* 4 hours. 

"But mom...I swear I didn't do it!!!"

(side note: I'm nowhere near done with this task and am seriously considering chucking it and going to buy some more.)

This is what 4 hours of unwinding a giant yarn mess gets you.
I decided to use the water bottle since it was so clear that I would need both hands to tackle this task.

(additional side note: Teaching oneself to crochet using YouTube videos and online tutorials is not working out for me. I will be needing assistance. Please help.)

Around 2:30, I decided that Cali and I needed to go for a walk. So we walked down to the leasing office, took our friends some cupcakes (that I had made the night before in a fit of baking euphoria...) and chatted for a while. But Cali was stinky so we made it short. 

Then we came home, made the bed, cleaned up the kitchen and watched more "Dance Moms." Then I started to feel a little sad that I hadn't gotten to eat one of my cupcakes. Last night and this morning, I had no desire to eat them, yet now, after they had all been devoured, I was consumed with regret. This always happens though. 

With applesauce in them, it's almost like eating fruit, right?
I'm gonna say yes. 

So what do I do? Start looking up fall cookies. I was planning on following my Apple Spice Cupcakes (see above picture) with some sort of pumpkin dessert. But nothing was striking my fancy. So I widened my search to sweet potato and marshmallow desserts. I mean, what is more fall than sweet potato casserole? But, alas I was not so impressed. Ok. Skip the fall themed flavors all together. Marshmallow cookies. 

Jackpot!! Browned butter dark chocolate and marshmallow cookies. It was as if Heaven was sent to me in cookie form. 

When Evan got home, we ate dinner and went to the store to pick up a couple of things I was lacking, specifically, the marshmallows and dark chocolate. Pretty essential stuff, I'd say.

I came home and got to work. I did change the recipe a little bit. Since I was making enough to take to my marketing meeting in the morning and for Evan to take to work, I doubled everything. But then I also halved the browned butter because the taste is so strong. I also used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour. Not to be healthy. Just out of convenience. Then I added a splash of vanilla extract because cookies just don't seem the same without it. 

7 dozen cookie balls. Oh these are going to be trouble!

All in all, this was a great experience! This was much thicker dough than I had expected, but it was SO YUMMY!

If you bake at all and don't have one of these stackable cooling racks, you're insane!
I absolutely love these things!

Evan gave them his seal of approval! (I had a picture for this, but SOMEONE won't let me use it. He claims he looked horrible but refused to take any more pictures. Lame.)

As always, there are some cookies that come out looking perfect and others that are just plain butt-ugly. Guess what? Butt-ugly tastes just as good as pretty and you don't feel half as guilty about eating them. 

The difference is clear. The taste, however, is the same.
Nicely done, Butt-Ugly cookie. 

The best part is that there are plenty for me to keep here in case I change my mind about trying them! Yum yum yum!