Birthday Pie

No, I didn't mis-type.  There's no such thing as birthday cake for my dad.  For as long as I can remember, he has always had an apple pie at his birthday celebrations.  My mom used to make it, but over the last few years, I have been given the task of baking her famous pie. 

I posted the recipe and a photo last year, so I thought this year I would give you my tips for making pie crust.

Please excuse the poor quality photos.  It was night time when I made the pie.

Normally I use a pastry blender to mix my flour and shortening, but I decided to try using my food processer instead this time.  HELLO??  Why haven't I been using this all along?  It took about a mintue for my dough to be perfectly ready to go.  If you have a food processor, USE IT.  I told my husband that the food processer is my new BFF.  He asked about my Kitchenaid mixer.  Oh yeah.  Food processer, you're a very close second!

One of my mom's tips for great pie crust is to touch the dough as little as possible.  We always roll our dough on our Tupperware Silcone Mats and use plastic wrap over the top.  Just go ahead and roll right on top of it.  I usually use two pieces and cross them like a plus sign right over the top of the dough ball.

One the dough is flat and as big as I need it for my pie plate, I take a knife and gently run it between the dough and the silicone mat.  Then I fold it in half and then in half again and transport it to the pie plate.

Once that's done, peel off the plastic wrap and fill with the pie filling of your choice.  We like apple around here.

I then top the filling with the second pie crust and attempt to make the edges look pretty.  I'm not very good at fluting them, but it doesn't stop me from trying.

Don't forget to cover the edges with aluminum foil so they don't get too crispy or burn.  Remove them when there's only 15 minutes left to bake.

Oh, and then top your birthday pie with birthday candles!  Dad turned three this year apparently...  ;)

Happy birthday, dad!

Lots to update!

I'm back with pictures!!  With Ryan being gone a lot for work, I haven't really been cooking all that much.  I do have a few things to update though:  crock-pot pork chops, apple pie, and vampire cookies.

Crock-Pot Pork Chops

I know this is a horrible photo.  I started eating and then realized that I didn't take a picture.  So, my half-eaten biscut was taken off and a brand new one place on my plate.  The pork was super tender and falling apart, so that's why it doesn't look like an actual porkchop.

Directions:

I used a Crockery Gourmet seasoning packet for this recipe.  They can be found at your local grocery store.  I've only been able to find them in the Metro-Detroit area at Holiday Market and Kroger.  After searching for a photo, apparently you can buy them through Amazon.com!  The chicken and beef packets are great too!

Mix entire contents of packet with 2 cups of water.  Add 1-2 lbs pork and the following vegetables coarsely chopped: 4 carrots, 4 celery stalks and 3 medium potatoes.  Cover and cook on low setting for 7-8 hours.  Do not stir, product will baste itself during the cooking process.

You read that correctly.  Those are the only instructions!  Super, super easy!  I used butterfly pork chops, so there was no bone to deal with.  The veggies are awesome cooked this way, and then I just added some Pillsbury Grands biscuts.

Apple Pie

Betty Crocker Big Red Cookbook - ninth edition

Ingredients: 

• Pastry for two-crust pie (see Betty Crocker cook book - pg 117)
• 1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• Dash of salt
• 8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
• 2 tbls butter, if desired*

Directions:

1. Heat overn to 425 degress F.  Make pastry.
2. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in large bowl.  Stir in apples.  Turn into pastry-lined pie plate.  Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over apples.  Cover with top pastry that has slits cut in it; seal and flute.  Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strips of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil durin last 15 minutes of baking.
3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.  Cool on wire rack at least 2 hours.

Vampire Cookies

http://www.brightideas.com/bright_idea.aspx?ID=52

Inredients:
I used my own sugar cookie recipe instead of the one they provided.

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• Red food coloring
• ¼ cup red decorator’s sugar
• 24 pieces MILKY WAY® Minis
• 1 tube vanilla frosting
• Plastic wrap
• Electric mixer
• Large bowl
• Medium bowl
• 2 cookie sheet pans

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add enough food coloring to tint the dough bright red.  Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  (When rolling sugar cookie dough, I use confectioner's sugar instead of flour to dust my rolling pin and rolling surface.)  Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.  Place cookies one inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Sprinkle the cookies with red sugar.  Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven.  Remove from oven and immediately press a MILKY WAY® Minis into the center of each cookie.  Cool completely.  Use vanilla frosting to pipe fangs over the candy.

I think that's all the updating I have to do so far.  Hope you enjoy!