Fresh Starts

Happy 2013!!

As with every January 1st we look ahead with excitement for things to come.

Fresh starts always seem to be the theme of the day.

Trying to get a jump start on my New Year's Resolution, I started mine on Dec. 2nd.

I was watching a YouTube video on simplifying and the chick made a good point ~ why wait? 

So I didn't. 

I've really been trying to be more mindful of my eating. 

Most days go well, some are less than stellar, but still much better than before.

Focus on the positive, right??

One of my goals is to eat more eggs.  I'm not a huge egg fan to begin with, but I know they are a good source of protein and good way to start your day.  For me, the secret for eating eggs is to mix them with things I do like so I've been enjoying this little breakfast casserole. 

I whip it up on Sunday and breakfast is ready for the week. 

The best part it is only 230 calories per slice and surprisingly filling.

Pair it with some fruit or a smoothie and you are good to go.

 

Benji's Egg Casserole
3 servings of hash browns
1 C 1% milk
6 eggs
2 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 C bacon bits (I use the Kirkland "fresh" bacon bits)
In a 9x9 pan layer hash browns, eggs/milk, bacon and cheese
Bake at 350 for 55 min
Makes 6 servings

Enjoy

Lemon Love

My BFF, Jenny P, enjoys a good lemon cupcake.  While I was down visiting a couple of weeks ago, I decided to whip up a batch as a little thank you for letting me come down and soak up some of her Arizona sun.  I found a promsing recipe at the Sing for Your Supper blog.  We gave it a try and I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.
A while ago I was on a quest for a good white cake, but was unable to find one.  Turns out this recipe fits the bill.  It is light, but dense enough to have that perfect "crumb".  It reminds me of wedding cake and even though it is lemon flavored, it is very light and I think makes the cake refreshing. 
I've tweeked the recipe a bit, but it is simple and pretty straight forward (although, a one bowl recipe it is not).  For even more lemony goodness pair it with a lemon buttercream.
Enjoy
Lemon Cupcakes

• 2C flour
• 1/4 C cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• juice of half a lemon

Preheat oven to 350
Combine sugar and lemon zest, muddle and set aside
Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt
Gently beat eggs whites and buttermilk
Combine sugar and butter and mix until very light in color
Add vanilla and lemon juice
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and then 1/2 of the milk mixture, repeat, ending with flour mixture
Fill cupcake liners half way up and bake ~ they will not brown so test with toothpick
Bake 17 min for mini and 20 for regular

Lemon Buttercream

• 1 C butter
• 4-6 C powder sugar
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/4 milk
• 1 dash salt
• zest of a lemon
• 1/4 C lemon juice
• a few drops of yellow food coloring (optional)

Combine and mix on med high for 3 minutes until light an fluffy

I'm linking up to Sweets for a Saturday

 

Pretty in Pink

   For the past few years I have been attending the Blossom Benefit that my friend Kim started.  It is basically a night for women to get together, drink some wine and give back to the community.  What started out as less than 10 people in her dining room has turned into one of our community's "hot ticket" raising thousands for women and children. 

   Last year Kim asked me if I would be willing to make some mini cupcakes for one of the wine pairings.  I made chocolate/chocolate buttercream and I thought they turned out pretty yummy.  Kim must of agreed because she asked me to make more cupcakes this year.  When I asked her what she wanted, figuring they wouldn't want chocolate again, she said, "pink and white".

   Okay so I took that to mean "fruity" and what's starting to show up in stores lately? Strawberries.

I did a little googling and found the recipe for Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes.  We don't have a Sprinkles bakery up here so I've never had one, but it looked simple enough so I gave it a try.  While the cupcake part was okay, the frosting is a WHOLE other story.  Light, fresh and just enough strawberry fruitiness. 

Springtime perfection.

Strawberry Buttercream (not exact Sprinkles recipe, but you get the gist)
1/2 C butter at room temp
2 1/2  C powder sugar (approximately, I just used what was left in the pantry)
1 t vanilla
1/4 cup fresh strawberry puree' (again approximate, it was a good two glugs of puree out of the blender)
Combine and once mixed, turn up mixer to medium high and beat for a few minutes to fluff it up
makes enough to frost 4 dozen mini cupcakes (give or take a few)
Enjoy
:0)

The Best Chocolate Buttercream

I know this is a repost, but I wanted to share this recipe again.

I've made chocolate buttercreams before, but this one is a KEEPER. It whips up nice and light and it makes and makes enough to frost a 2 layer 9" cake as well as 2 dozen cupcakes.
Enjoy

Rich Chocolate Buttercream
2 oz baking chocolate

2 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

1 C butter

4 C powdered sugar

2 t vanilla

1/4 C coco

1/4 C milk

Melt chocolates and set aside.

Cream butter, coco, half of the sugar

Add melted chocolate, vanilla, milk, remaining sugar

mix until fluffy

Makes 3 3/4 cups of frosting

I'm linking this up to Yummy Fridays over at Yummy Mummy

PB&J Cupcakes

It has been cupcake central around here lately. I've gotten a few more "gigs" which is kind of exciting. My friend asked me to make 300 minis (devils food w/ chocolate butter cream) for a benefit she is doing. I will definitely have to recruit Akiko for a little extra help. Last night Joj asked me if I could make a PB&J cupcake. I tried to "bake in" the jelly. This did not work. It just sank. I guess the next time I will just have to "inject" the jelly. Oh well, lesson learned.

It is a beautiful day here in the PNW. The sun is shining and we will be spending it rooting on Ben and the Tigers.

Happy Saturday Everyone!!

:0)

Carrot Cake

My friend Candy's little boy's bday is tomorrow and she hired me to bake some cupcakes for the class. She was up to her elbows baking for the weekend's numerous festivities so I was happy to take this off her plate. (Check out her blog if you want to be inspired to rethink the way you eat) Anyway, her son Cam decided carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting was what he wanted, so carrot cake it was.

Since I'm still new at the baking from scratch, I called my go to girl, Akiko (aka my sister-in-law) to help me find the right recipe. We settled on Ina Garten's Carrot and Pineapple Cake, although we did tweak it a bit. Overall, I think it turned out well. Since it was for kids I didn't put the coconut, walnuts or raisins in it, but the taste was good and they were nice and moist. So far, this one is a keeper.

Carrot Pineapple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

(based on Ina Garten's recipe)

• 2 C sugar


• 1 1/3 veggie oil


• 3 eggs room temp


• 1 t vanilla


• 2 1/2 C flour


• 1/2 t baking powder


• 2 t baking soda


• 1 1/2 t cinnamon


• 1 1/2 t salt


• 1/2 C crushed pineapple


• 1 pound of grated carrots

Mix sugar, oil and eggs until fluffy, add vanilla

Sift dry ingreds and add to wet

Fold in carrots and pineapple

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 350 for 30-35 minutes

Basic Cream Cheese Frosting

• 
  
  12 oz cream cheese at room temp


• 
  
  8 oz butter at room temp


• 
  
  1 t vanilla


• 
  
  1 lb powder sugar

Combine and mix until light and fluffy. Place in the fridge to firm up if you are piping the frosting.

Enjoy

:0)

Today in the test kitchen

I've been toying with the idea of starting a "cupcake for hire" kind of thing. Folks seem to love my baked goods and if they are actually willing to pay for them, even better. Of course, that also means that my "goods" have to be well... good. Today Akiko came and we tried some recipes out. We attempted mini red velvet cupcakes, classic white cake and devils food cake.

~Results~

Mini Red Velvet Minis

My friend asked me yesterday if I might be interested in making mini red velvet cupcakes for a possible pairing for a wine tasting she is doing. When asked how many she would need, the friend said 250-300. Alrighty then. I'm not sure if this will happen but I figured I better see how many minis my recipe would make. Turns out it makes 48. The tricky part was the baking time. We kind of lost track with all the "one more minutes", but overall, I think the minis are a keeper.

Classic White Cake

I came across this recipe when I googled "moist and fluffy white cake". While the texture of the cake (or "crumb") is exactly what I was looking for, the flavor was average. Even though you only use the egg whites, it still had a very "eggy" taste to me. Even with a mountain of frosting, I could still taste the egg. It was good, but not great. I'm going to keep looking.

Devil's Food Cake

(aka Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake)

OMG.

All I can say is OMG. This cake was AMAZING!! Super moist, kind of spongy (but in a good way) I topped these bad boys off with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Holy Yummy, Batman. Yes, these were THAT good. Not only were they delicious, they were super easy to make. If you are craving some chocolate cake, try these. You will not be disappointed.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese


• 1/3 C peanut butter


• 6 T butter


• 1 1/4 C powder sugar


• 1/2 t vanilla

Cream everything together until light and fluffy

Enjoy

:0)

Shower Recap

Saturday was the shower for Maria.

Despite the insane 24 hours prior (including a field trip, PTA meeting, baseball game, birthday party and a 1 am trip to the grocery store) everything came together.

We kept things simple.

~Menu~

Cobb Salad

Quiche'

Garlic Bread

Fruit Platter

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Pink Lemonade w/ Preseco

I was extremely happy with how the cupcakes turned out. So moist and fluffy, my best batch to date. It was also a really good batch of cream cheese frosting. I used real lemon juice (since I had one on hand that I had used for the salad dressing) and it was a super juicy lemon. Since there was so much juice I left the milk out of the recipe all together. I think I might just skip the milk from now on.

Overall, I would say the shower was a success.

Super Simple, Super Yummy Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/2 C butter


• 8 oz room temp cream cheese


• 2-3 T lemon juice (fresh or bottle)


• 1 lb powder sugar

Combine the all ingreds and then mix on med for 5-7 minutes

Enjoy

If at first you don't succeed...

My mom and I are throwing a shower for my little brother's fiance' on Saturday and I'm in charge of the dessert. The original plan was to make some red velvet cupcakes, but then I saw this and it was L.O.VE. at first sight.

Cupcakes, schmupcakes. This is what I wanted to make for the shower, but knowing me I needed to do a trial run. Thankfully, I did.

Now I'm decent with a pastry bag, but for some reason it just didn't turn out. I followed the directions... well most of them. When it came to filling in "the gaps", they were just too big to "swoop" some frosting. I thought "small roses" would look nice ~ wrong. Oh well, I did learn a few things from this experience. When I make this cake again (I've bumped the cupcakes back to plan A for Saturday) I will start in the middle and work my way out, as opposed to starting on the sides like the tutorial suggests. I would also make smaller "roses". The big "roses" make for bigger "gaps" so I think the smaller ones would be easier to smoosh together. Either way, I think this cake has potential.

:0)

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone.

I wanted to make something a little festive, so I decided to make some Thin Mint Cupcakes. Now Thin Mints aren't my favorite Girl Scout cookie (I much prefer the Tresfoil and Tagalongs) but Sam loves them so I figured, what the the heck. All I did was crush up (not too small) a package of Thin Mints and add them to a devils food box mix. Can I just say these are super yummy. I'm not really a mint girl at all, but the cookies add just enough to give the cake a good and interesting flavor. I topped them off with plain butter cream. (If I would of had some Bailey's in the house I would have put a splash or two in there) I'm just bummed I thought of these after the cookies sales. I would have stocked up. Oh well, there is always next year.

:0)

Now we're cookin'

So I've gotten my second order for cupcakes. Okay, it's from the same friend, but still, I'm very excited. When I told her I was thinking about putting a business card in with the auction cupcakes, she was very supportive and said, "if you want to do this, I will get your name out there". I thought this was so nice and she is the kind of woman who is connected and could "really get my name out there". Still scary, but now the scales are starting to tip towards more exciting.
Yesterday while I was bopping around the Internet, I decided to do a little more research on cupcakes and cupcake shops. I always like to see the what kind of flavors and flavor combinations are out there. While doing so I also clicked on the price list. Talk about sticker shock. Holy you gotta be kidding me, Batman. The prices where crazy, like $28 to $34 a dozen crazy. Do people REALLY spend that??? I guess so. c.r.a.z.y.
So now I'm thinking that my cupcakes might be a very doable option for those folks who drive all the way downtown to buy fancy cupcakes (and there are a lot of folks around here who do). Now I just need to find some signature "tried and trues" as well as some "fancy" cupcakes. With St. Patty's day around the corner I'm thinking I will try a chocolate cupcake with crushed thin mints and a little Bailey's butter cream might be a fun start.
:0)

Going Pro

I like to bake and I bake a lot. I don't make anything fancy, but it is always well received. Last week one of my friends asked me to bake cupcakes for her daughter's birthday. I thought "why not". When she asked how much would I charge I wasn't sure what to say. I know people can pay a lot for cupcakes (I took Sam to Hello Cupcake and spent 3 bucks on one of the worst cupcakes I've ever had) but I'm no "hello cupcake" so I said ten bucks for 2 dozen Red Velvet cupcakes. When she picked them up, she paid me more than double and that got me thinking... The same friend holds a auction benefit every spring and for the past two years I've donated pecan pies. It still shocks me how crazy people go for home baked goods, but apparently they are popular and I always get "you should open a bakery". I just smile and think, "bless your heart, what number cocktail is this?"

This year instead of pies, I'm donating cupcakes. A cupcake sampler including, Red Velvet w/ Cream Cheese, Devils Food with PB Butter cream and Chocolate Butter cream, Lemon Meringue and probably tried and true Vanilla w/ Vanilla Butter cream. What I'm toying with is putting in a little business card: Cupcakes for Hire.
Around here grocery store cupcakes go for about 8 bucks a dozen, much more if you go "gourmet". So I'm thinking folks might be interested in cupcakes somewhere in the middle, $25 for 2 dozen. Kinda scary to put myself out there like that, but the thought of picking up a little cash now and then, is kinda tempting.

You will hear "yummy" sounds

Today I thought I would share with you my "go to" coffee cake.

It is so simple it is kinda embarrassing, but folks seem to love it regardless.

I made it for the book fair breakfast this morning and as I was leaving with the two little pieces left over, someone stopped me and snagged one of them.

I will be the first to admit this has Sandra Lee written all over it, but it never fails to please and that is really what it's all about.

Enjoy :0)

Super Easy Coffee Cake

for the cake ~

1 box yellow cake mix (I prefer to use Pillsbury ~ super moist and super cheap)

1 C water

1/2 C oil

3 eggs

mix according to directions and pour into a greases 9x13

for the crumb topping ~

1 stick butter softened (I nuc mine for 20 seconds)

1 C brown sugar

1 C oats

1/2 C flour

1 t cinnamon & 1/4 nutmeg (feel free to bump these up according to your preferred taste)

mix until combined and crumbly

Pour the crumb mixture over the cake batter and swirl with a knife.

Bake 34 minutes

The cake will puff up around the crumb topping as it melts into the cake. After it cools you can top it with a basic powder sugar, milk, vanilla glaze.

So simple, but so yummy

Red velvet worthy of blue box, white ribbon

Red Velvet Cupcakes

With Valentines Day just around the corner, it seems Red Velvet cakes are all the rage. I remember Martha making one on her show and I just couldn't get over putting an ENTIRE bottle of red food coloring into the batter, just not appealing. I've only had a few Red Velvet experiences and they were dry and flavorless. That being the case, I never had the desire to try and make them myself, until now.

There is a small diner by my house. I love the fact that when I walk in, the waitress is already pouring my diet coke and looking for lemons. I love that when I order a side of BBQ, the cook knows to serve it in a small bowl, yes it is THAT good. I love that when it is slow we can BS with the staff and they BS back. It's everything a neighborhood diner should be. So to show them a little love I will bake for them. I've brought in pies, cookies and other sweet treats. The last time we went for lunch I was in the middle of making some cupcakes and the staff was bummed I hadn't brought them any (I would have had they been done) So I decided the next time we went I wouldn't show up empty handed.

I was thrilled when I saw a recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes on the Brown Eyed Baker's blog. (Quick side note, her blog is awesome ~ amazingly yummy eye candy AND she shares her recipes ~ how cool is that) I had done some research trying to find "the best Red Velvet ever" and I kept coming back to hers. It had all the "must haves" and it only made 12 cupcakes which meant not too many extra cupcakes at the house screaming "eat me" Long story short, they were easy to make, tasted moist and chocolaty and I can't wait for the folks at the diner to try them.

Goodies to Go

Once a week, Joj has to make the long trek up to Everett for work. It is a long drive for everyone so to make it a little less awful I try and send along a little something. The group seems to be fond of coffee cakes which could not be easier to make. This week I'm sending up a sweet cream cheese coffee cake. I'm going a little Sandra Lee and basically doctoring up a box mix, but the filling is pretty tasty. I'm just waiting for it to cool and then I'm going to glaze it. The real recipe is here.

The best part about whipping up this little gem is that it is leaving the house and all that will come back will be an empty plate. I love to bake, but unfortunately it results in baked goods. I've joined D'lyn's 25 in 21. A little accountability group to loose those extra pounds before schools out. It fits with the decluttering of the body resolution so I figured what the hey.

You had me at cream cheese frosting

So it is already October.
Geesh, where has the time gone?
Both kids are back into the swing of school. Me not so much. I did a lot of testing last month which was nice in the fact that it got me up and out, but there are just some days I feel like hunkering down and staying at home. Today was a GORGEOUS day in the PNW. We are in the midst of a fabulous Indian Summer and it just felt like a baking kind of day. I decided to try the pumpkin cupcakes I saw at Cozy.Cottage.Cute. Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I'm not a big pumpkin lover, but I am a sucker for cream cheese frosting. I whipped up a batch and they were given the thumbs up from my official tasting crew.
Since the kitchenaid was already out and I had left over frosting and brown bananas I decided to make some banana cupcakes as well. I searched the web and found this recipe at Vintage Victuals. I followed the recipe exactly, but when I tasted the batter it seemed to be missing something. I decided to make half that batch as is and the other half adding a t of vanilla. The cupcakes with the vanilla won our taste test, but the "unvanilla" ones had more of a banana flavor. I guess it just depends on what you are looking for.
Happy Baking
:0)

Move over Zucchini Bread...

Every year my parents grow zucchini. They always have and probably always will. One summer when I was little they made ratatouille EVERY night for dinner. Needless to say, I'm not a big zucchini fan. I make tons of zucchini bread during the summer in my attempt to help my folks use up their harvest of mutant zucchinis. Ben loves it and I don't mind a slice or two (especially when it is slathered with butter)

Anyway, last night the DND guys were over and one of them brought a mutant zucchini from his brother's garden. He had given my dad some IT advice (shocking, right?) and so to thank him I told him I would turn that 5 lb zucchini into many loaves of bread. When he showed up he handed me a recipe his mom had given him. She said it was really good and that he should try it. Zucchini Cobbler.

Yeah, it sounded AWFUL. I tried to polite and not gag at the thought of a savory cobbler, but he told me to try it and I did. By the time it was done, it was past my bedtime, so I set it to cool and went to bed. This morning there was some left and Joj told me to try some. Yeah, no thanks. He said it tasted just like apples. Taking a small bit that was mostly crumb topping I tried it. He was right. It was actually good. You would NEVER know it wasn't apples.

The recipe originally came from Taste of Home.

Zucchini Cobbler

This is my Surprise Dessert! No one ever guesses that the "secret ingredient" is zucchini. Everyone says it tastes like apples. This cobbler is a great dessert to make for a potluck supper or to serve a crowd. It's been requested time and again in my house, and I'm always happy to make it. -Joanne Fazio, Carbondale, Pennsylvania.


16 - 20 Servings Prep: 35 min. Bake: 35
Ingredients
8 cups chopped seeded peeled zucchini (about 3 pounds)
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crust
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups cold butter, cubed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, cook and stir zucchini and lemon juice for 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; simmer 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat; set aside.
For crust, combine the flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumb. Stir 1.2 cup into zucchini mixture. Press half of remaining crust mixture into a greased 15-in. x 10 in. baking pan. Spread zucchini over top; crumble remaining crust mixture over zucchini. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Yield: 16-20 servings.

How I spent the last day of Summer Vacation

So today is the last day of "summer" here the PNW. It is raining and about 50. That pretty much sums up this summer or really the lack of it this year.

So school starts tomorrow and I am in charge of a little thing called the BooHoo ~ WooHoo Breakfast. It is basically coffee and baked goods set out for the Kindergarten parents so they have a place to go once their kids are officially delivered to the classrooms. I wish I had something like this when I was teaching. A sobbing mom in the hall makes it a bit tough to teach.

Anyway, I will be spending the majority of the day baking. On the menu:

Paula Dean's Poundcake

Pecan Coffeecake

white chocolate macadamia nut cookies

ginersnaps

snickerdoodles

fruit platter

My friend is making a ton of quick breads to round out the spread.

I may make more. It is tough to tell until it is all made. I just want to make sure there is more than enough. Last year, in addition to the breakfast I was also in charge of (meaning I was a committee of one) the teachers luncheon that day. Yikes.

So I'm off to the store and then an afternoon spent in an apron up to my elbow in flour.

Fun, fun, fun,

:0)

Banana Cream Tart

Well, it is official. It is summer and we had better weather in January. So that means not a lot of outside time and that means more baking.
My friend Jim (aka Big Daddy) had a birthday on Saturday and I whipped up this tart for him. I have made him a couple of pies, but the last one didn't set up so I was a little nervous. After doing a little digging I found a new recipe on Martha's site and decided to give it a try. I tweaked it a little bit and it turned out great.
Instead of using a graham cracker or regular pie crust I had some left over dough from a tart I made a couple of weeks ago. Being lazy I used that and was pleasantly surprised how nicely it baked up and tasted. Overall a pretty easy dish to whip up.
Enjoy :0)

Banana Cream Tart
For the crust ~ this makes enough for two 10" tarts

• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 1 large egg, plus one yolk
• 1/2 vanilla
• 2 1/3 C flour
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 3/4 C butter chilled and cut up

Mix the cream, eggs and vanilla. set aside
In a food processor pulse flour, sugar, b. powder and butter until it looks coarse meal
Slowly add the cream mixture until the dough comes together
Divide dough into 2 disks and chill (or freeze up to 3 months)
Using one of the disks, press into a 10" tart pan and bake for 10-15 min. at 400 degrees
Cool completely before filling

For the filling ~ you will have about a C left over, no worries, it makes a nice snack

• 5 large yolks
• 1/2 C sugar
• 3 T cornstarch
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 1/2 C whole milk
• 2 t banana extract
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 4 T butter cut up
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/2 C lemon line type soda (use to keep the bananas from browning)

Whisk together yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch. set aside

Bring milt to milk to just boiling. Temper eggs and add to milk

Mix over medium heat until thickened.

Remove from heat and add butter one T at a time and vanilla and banana extracts.

Slice bananas and line tart crust. Pour filling over bananas and chill for at least 2 hours.

Garnish with whipped cream and banana slices

Apple Pie 2.0

I make a lot of pies. However, fruit pies intimidate me. I hate a runny pie and that seems to be challenge with fruit pies.
The other day Rue posted a recipe for "the best apple pie ever". I figured I would give it a try and I have to say it is pretty good.
My first attempt at this pie proved to be a bit challenging. My crust wasn't co-operating and I forgot a couple of ingreds in the filling, but at that point I put it in the oven anyway. Despite the forgotten ingreds it was pretty good. I decided to try again and this time I made sure I followed the recipe exactly.
I sent with Joj to DND and the boys devoured it. You know they liked it when I woke up to an email from one of the wives asking for the recipe because her husband "won't shut up about it".
So if you too are on the lookout for a home run of an apple pie, look no further.
Enjoy
:0)

Best Ever Apple Pie (from Country Living w/ a couple of tweaks by me)
1 recipe for a double crust pie
6-8 granny smith apples peeled and sliced
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C dk brown sugar
2 T flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
2 T butter cubed
1/4 C whipping cream
1 T raw sugar

combine the apples, sugars, flour, salt and spices

pour into the crust, dot with butter and pour whipping cream over the top

top with second crust, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar

cut vents and bake at 375 for about an hour