Holiday delights.

[I am currently missing my camera that I took my Thanksgiving pictures with so photos will be updated when camera is found for each pie]

I love holiday pies, regular pies, all American pies.  I love pie. This year I tried 3 new flavors, each was quite delicious.  I am also including a pie I made last year but never posted, and a delightful tart. The titles link to the original recipe.

Pioneer Woman's Caramel Apple Pie

I won my church pie baking contest with this recipe.

Pie crust of choice

Filling:

6 cups thinly sliced granny smith apples

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

Topping:

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oats

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces or chopped sugared pecan

1/2 jar caramel ice cream topping or 1/2 bag of caramels, unwrapped and melted

1. Toss together apples, lemon juice, white sugar, flour, and salt.

2. Roll pie crust into pie pan.  (If using a deep pie pan, increase apples 1/2-1 cup).

3. In a separate bowl cut the butter into flour until crumbly, stir in brown sugar, oats, salt.

4.  Add apples to pie crust then top with crumb topping.

5.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour.  I cover pie loosely with aluminum foil for first 30 minutes. 

6.  If toasting regular pecans, sprinkle on top of pie and bake 5 more minutes.  If using chopped sugared pecans sprinkle after removing from oven.

7.   Pour caramel over the top of pie and allow to cool.

 Rolo Pecan Pie

1 9in pie crust of choice

1 (8 oz) bag of Rolo minis or 40 unwrapped Rolos

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup pecan halves

1.  In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter, rolos, and milk together until smooth.

2.  In a large bowl mix together brown sugar, 3 eggs, vanilla, and salt until frothy.

3.  Pour in melted rolo mixture and stir until combined. Add in pecans and stir together.

4.  Prepare pie crust in pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5.  Pour chocolate pecan mixture into pie crust and bake for 45 minutes until top is golden but still able to wiggle when moved.  Allow to cool completely.

Beach Pie

recipe given to me by Cyrus

Crust:

1 1/2 sleeves saltine crackers (Only 1-1 1/4 sleeve for non-deep dish pie)

1 stick softened butter

3 Tbsp white sugar

Filling:

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup lime juice

Whipped cream

coarse sea salt

1. Crush saltine crackers in food processor or smash in ziplock with rolling pin.

2.  stir in sugar to saltine mixture and cut butter into mixture until a crumbly consistency.

3.  Press into pie pan. You don't need to reserve any of the mixture.

4.  Chill pie crust for 15 minutes in refrigerator.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake chilled crust for 15-20 minutes until crust is browned.

5.  Beat the egg yolks with the sweetened condensed milk.  Beat in juice until completely combined.

6. Pour mixture into pie crust.  Return to oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until pie has set.

7.  Cool to room temperature then place in refrigerator.

8.  Add whipping cream and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt just prior to serving.

Cranberry Cream Pie

recipe given to me by Cyrus

3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

2 cups whole fresh cranberries
       

1 9inch graham cracker crust

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whipping cream, whipped or cool whip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1.  In a saucepan combine white sugar, cornstarch, water until smooth then add in cranberries.

2.  Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Cranberries may begin to pop. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

3.  In a mixing bowl blend together cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar until creamy.  Fold in whipping cream already whipped or cool whip. 

4.  Spread cream cheese mixture into graham cracker crust.  Spoon cranberry mixture over top.

5.  Chill for 4 hours then serve. 

Options:  Grate small amount of orange peel into cream cheese mixture and add in 1 Tbsp orange juice to cranberries with 3 Tbsp water rather than 1/4 cup.

Make sugared cranberries and decorate the top with whipped cream and cranberries.

Another recipe I made this holiday season was Cranberry Apple Upside-Down cake.  The original recipe post has beautiful step by step pictures so I am going to just send you to Sally's Baking Addiction.

Pies!

For Thanksgiving we tried a couple new pies this year (okay more than a couple but I made 2 so those recipes are below):

Cranberry Apple Pie:

1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 apples (I used Fugi) peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 cups fresh cranberries
zest of 1 orange

Pie crust of choice (2 layers)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a bowl toss apples, cranberries, zest.  In a smaller bowl mix together sugar, flour, and salt.  Toss sugar mixture with apple mixture. 

 

Prepare pie crust, lay into pie pan and prick a few hole in the bottom with a fork.  Dump in apples.  Top with additional pie crust layer.  For fun I used a leaf cookie cutter to make a bunch of pie crust leaves for my top pie crust.

For extra looks I brushed top crust with egg white wash (One egg white beat with a tablespoon of water) and sprinkled with Sugar in the raw (large sugar crystals).

Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 40-50 more minutes.  After 20 minutes at 350 degrees my pie rim was browning so I covered the edges with aluminum foil to prevent burning.  Bake until apples soft when poked with a fork and crust baked and browned.

Mini Peach Pies:

These pies are total cheater pies.  I used Pillsbury premade pie crust and canned peach pie filling.  1 box of crust and 1 large can of filling makes 12 cupcake sized pies.

I rolled the crust out a bit and used a cup mouth to cut the bottom crust.  Then I pressed that crust into the cupcake tin and filled with peach pie filling.  I used a round biscuit cutter for the top crust and used a small heart cookie cutter to cut out the bottom.  for a few top crusts I used four of the cut out hearts to form a little flower on top instead of a round crust.  I layered the top crust on, brush with egg white wash, and sprinkled with sugar in the raw.  Baked at 350 degrees for 30-50 minutes, just watched for browning. These are super good warmed with some vanilla ice cream.

 



Pumpkin Cupcakes

Wilton had this adorable Turkey Cupcake Kit so I whipped up some Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.  An easy and fun treat for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix up all ingredients until smooth, beating for about 2 minutes.  Pour into cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese softened
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 cups powered sugar

Soften butter and cream cheese and beat together until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Mix in 2 cups powered sugar.  Add additional cup until desired consistency.

Taco Soup and other game day treats

Big football game yesterday...  The Holy War for Utah and my Aggies playing a big game as well.  Something easy and delicious for this time of year that can feed a crowd is, Taco Soup!

2 lb ground beef sautéed with onion (if onion desired)
2 cans corn (do not drain)
2 cans kidney beans (do not drain)
1 BIG can tomato juice (46 oz...which is a little over 1 quart)
1 pint Salsa
1 pkg Taco seasoning

Brown beef and then add other ingredients.  Mix and heat in a large pot on the stove. Top with Fritos, sour cream, and shredded cheddar. Also great to make in a crockpot after browning beef.  This is a large recipe but I would imagine it would be easy to freeze for later as well.

Another treat we made was Pumpkin Spice Chex Mix.  Pumpkin is all the rage and so Chex came out with a little spice packet to make the chex mix.  It was fine as is after following the directions on the packet but I would change it up a bit for next time.  Chex has a similar recipe not using the new spice packet that can be found here.

My version for next time...

3 cups cinnamon chex
2 cups corn or rice chex
1 cup honey teddy grahams
 mini chocolate chips
chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter
spice packet

In a large bowl toss chex, teddy grahams, chocolate chips, and pecans. Melt butter and mix with spice packet.  Stir over chex mix, until coated.

At this point the direction called for microwaving chex mix for 3 minutes, stirring every minute, to glaze...my bowl was too big so I spread onto baking sheet and baked at 350 for a few minutes until glazed, stirring it around.  This process takes a bit longer.

For an extra pumpkin kick I would melt some of Hershey Kisses, pumpkin spice kisses and drizzle over mix.  Allow to cool then break apart and enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Bread.

This recipe was adapted from Apple Bread on allrecipes.com

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

3 eggs
1/2 cup veg. oil
1/2 cup applesauce (I used cinnamon applesauce because that is what I had on hand)

3 cups apples, peeled, and cut into small cubes (I used pink lady apples because that is what I had on hand)
1 cup cinnamon chips (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees and spray grease 2 bread loaf pans.
2.  In a small bowl blend eggs, oil, and applesauce.
3.  In a large bowel stir together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well.
5.  Add apples and cinnamon chips.
6.  Seperate into 2 loaf pans and bake for 60 minutes (glass pan took 60 mins. Metal took 65 minutes, just keep an eye on it).

Quick Caramel Popcorn

2 qts popped popcorn (1/4 cup unpopped)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup karo syrup
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda

1.  Pop popcorn and pour into a large brown paper bag.
2.  Place butter, brown sugar, karo, and salt in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave 2-3 minutes, stop when bubbly.
3.  Pour over popcorn in bag, roll top of bag down and microwave for 1 minute and 20 seconds. 
4.  Remove from microwave and shake bag well.
5.  Pour onto wax paper or a wax-paper lined baking sheet to cool.

Sprinkle with salt and mixed with cashews if desired.  You could also drizzle it with melted chocolate for variation.

Orange Bread Pudding with Cranberry Syrup

If you are looking for a classic holiday flavored brunch dish, this one is pretty tasty.  I changed up a orange french toast recipe to make it into a bread pudding.

ORANGE BREAD PUDDING

10-12 slices day old bread
4 large eggs
1 2/3 cups orange juice
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
Chopped Pecans (optional)

Beat together egss,  sugar, milk, orange juice, vanilla, and nutmeg.  Cut bread with kitchen shears into 12 pieces per slice.  Grease a 9x13in pan.  Fill pan with bread pieces.  Pour egg and orange juice mixture over bread.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until browned and eggs cooked through.

CRANBERRY SYRUP

1 cup fresh cranberries
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

Bring cranberries, sugar, and water to a boil, stirring continually.  Cranberries will begin to pop.  As berries pop mash with your stirring spoon.  When mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat and pour thru a fine mesh seive into a heatproof bowl.  Mash cranberries with a spoon to release as much juice as possible.  Makes 3/4-1 cup of syrup.  Save mashed cranberries for cranberry relish if desired for turkey dinner.

Pecan Pie

I made this for Thanksgiving yesterday and it was a smash hit.  So delish and so rich.  Also not that hard to make if you devote time to pay attention while making it.

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

2 cup sugar
2 cup light corn syrup
½ tsp salt

6 eggs, beaten
3 cups lightly chopped pecans
1 Tbsp. Vanilla

2 unbaked 8-inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter slowly on low heat (don't let it brown). Add sugar, corn syrup and salt. Turn the heat up to medium and stir until sugar dissolves, approx. 5 minutes. Bring to a boil and the turn down and let simmer (stirring occasionally because it foams up and is easy to boil over, even on a very low heat...so keep an eye on it!) for 10 - 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally while cooling. 
Roughly chop the pecans.

Mix 6 large eggs in a bowl and add vanilla. Mix with a fork. When butter/sugar mixture has cooled off a bit, slowly add egg mixture, mixing at the same time so it doesn't curdle. Mix in pecans. Pour into the pie shells and bake for 1 hour or until firm when shaken.

Some cute Thanksgiving ideas...

The Turkey Cupcakes are from Family Fun.

The nutty candles were featured on Write Click Scrapbook today.

I love thie turkey picture holder and found it featured on eighteen25 last month.

Gratitude project by Becky Higgins is linked here.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Cranberries and Turkey IMO are a divine combination. We didn't have any canned cranberry sauce like we thought so we hurried up and made some. I don't think I will ever buy canned again.

Super easy Cranberry Sauce...

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cups whole cranberries

Boil sugar and water to dissolve sugar for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add Cranberries, bring back up to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes or until you see most of the cranberries pop.

Remove from heat and transfer into a dish. Serve warm or cold (surprisingly it was good warm).

This will thicken as you remove it from the heat.

Orange Rolls

Continuing on the idea of easy good food that feeds lots of people...

This is a delightful variation for rolls at Thanksgiving. In fact (although not this recipe) I remember eating orange rolls at Thanksgiving a few times as a young kid.

This recipe is inspired by a lemon roll recipe I got from Sister Thomas several years ago.

20 Rhodes rolls thawed
1 orange
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice from 1 orange (approx. 2 Tbsp.)
1 Tbsp melted butter

Cut rolls in half (to make more bite-sized rolls) and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Grate orange and mix gratings with sugar. Sprinkle over rolls and allow to rise. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour over risen rolls. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until browned. Mix glaze and pour over rolls while still hot.

Something Delightful

I've been slow at updating this as of late. But it is finally snowing here in Utah so I am feeling a bit more festive with the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving is a time of gathering together. Something delicious, warm, sweet, and it feeds many people should be on the menu. I've been craving this too so here is my friend Toni's recipe for Monkey Bread (rename it gratitude bread and say something you are grateful for with each piece...ta da great activity and snack for kids).


This recipe is SO EASY.

4 cans of biscuits (the exploding can kind)
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
Cinnamon and sugar mix

Cut all biscuits in fourths and roll each piece in cinnamon sugar.
Place in well greased bundt pan (I have only tried this in a bundt pan but I would assume you could do a smaller version in a regular bread pan).
Melt butter and sugar together on the stove until boiling.
Pour over biscuit pieces in the bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.
Turn over onto plate, cool slightly, and pull apart to eat and enjoy.