Crispy Little Devils

MAPLE SNICKERDOODLES!

After a stressful start to the week, I was able to indulge in a relaxing afternoon of baking today. Being a teacher, occasionally I am observed for different reasons. I had one of these observations on Tuesday morning. This means that I spent the last week making sure that everything would flow perfectly in the classroom. The long and short of it is - well, I couldn't bake.

Then, Tuesday afternoon, I coached my very first cross country meet. My students were incredible and actually scored a big victory against two local towns. After a long day yesterday, all I wanted to do was go to bed and watch House.

Today, however, was the perfect baking day. I got home from cross country practice and perused the web for new creations. I found the most divine recipe for these little gems from heaven - maple snickerdoodles. HO-LY COW are these things good. Just as with most snickerdoodles, these have a lovely butter and sugar base with a lot of cinnamon. This fabulous twist included three tablespoons of real deal maple syrup. The recipe called for rolling the dough in maple sugar. Not having any in my cupboard (and knowing well how expensive such a purchase would be) I opted to create a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar, and the slightest bit of maple syrup. Not enough syrup to make it wet, just enough to slightly moisten the sugar.

After ten minutes, these little badboys came out, chewy in the center, crispy and lovely on top. Biscuit may have a new favorite cookie. He is off taking a nap right now, but I am certain he's going to enjoy these treats.

I am also in the process of making a delicious honey cornbread recipe to go with the chili I procured from my parents' house last night. I also have the dough chilling in the fridge right now to make Kerri Annie's shortbread cookies, as featured on the Threadbare Bakery Blog. Not having pecans in the house, I decided to try this recipe with cashews. I did opt to keep the wheat flour versus white flour. Interestingly enough, this recipe also calls for brown sugar instead of white. I am so SURE this will be delicious, too. I have a big bag of chocolate ready and waiting for these cashew cookies to be dipped in.


In the meanwhile, above is a snickerdoodle snapshot I took after they cooled. Here below is an image of my cornbread that I am begining to fear may very well spill over into the oven as a result of being full to the brim. Eeek! Wish me luck!

Baketress Bliss

My fiance and I just celebrated the anniversary of our first date by picking apples. Our first date was actually a twelve-hour long afternoon that included apple picking, strolling, laughing, grocery shopping, and a thwarted attempt to watch a football game that never came on. We made the best of the afternoon sharing teacher stories and celebrating the glory of the apples we picked. Now, a year later, we ventured into another new territory together - turning those anniversary apples into a delicious pie!

Using my Mom's (actually my great-grandmother's) crust recipe, I attempted my very first apple pie last night. The fact that it is half-gone by the next day is indicative of our success. Mike (A.K.A. "Biscuit") was an expert at slicing the Macoun apples we picked into perfect-sized pieces. I worked with a dough that was comprised of:

2.5 cups flour

1 cup Crisco

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of milk

1 tablespoon vinegar

I mixed all of the dry ingredients together first, then cut in the Crisco with a pastry cutter (a life-saver - much better than using the two butter knife method of years past!). The next step was to combine the milk and vinegar together and THEN add that to the dry mixture. This produces enough for both a top and bottom crust. My Mom reminded me of the importance of pricking the crust, both bottom and sides, before adding the apples.

The apples were sliced (we used about 10 medium sized Macouns - a lot, but it made for a nice, lumpy, full pie!) and placed in a large mixing bowl. Before they could discolor, we added 1 cup of sugar, some cinnamon, some nutmeg, a tablespoon of flour, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When it came to the cinnamon and nutmeg I do not measure. Some recipes suggest using 1 teaspoon of each - I probably use at least a tablespoon (3 teaspoons for those making the conversion) of cinnamon, and a bit less of nutmeg. That appley-goodness mixture goes straight into the pie pan. Before adding the top crust, Biscuit and I sliced up a few pieces of butter and strategically placed it atop the apples to make for a gooey-ier center. We covered the pie, crimped the edges, put three venting slices in the top. I coated the crust with a light butter-wash and threw it in the oven.

The pie baked for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. After ten minutes, we lowered the temp. to 350 and baked for another 40 minutes. The results were divine! Biscuit went out, back to the supermarket, convinced that a pie of this magnitude should not be enjoyed without vanilla ice cream. Upon his return, we could not wait for the pie to cool before we cut in. The crust was PERFECT! Oddly enough, I am not much of a crust person when it comes to pies, but this was really outstanding. Biscuit said that everything; the crust, the apples, the soupy-ish filling; were just perfection. I was glad that we were able to make this together.