Pear Crumb Pie

So I have a confession to make. My family and I are a bunch of math nerds, so there was no doubt as to what my post for today was going to be. Today is March 14, also known to some people as Pi Day. Pear Crumb Pie for Pi Day. It's a match made in Heaven.

Cinnamon Pie

One of our favorite shows on television is Psych. Everyone, even my eight year old son, can appreciate the humor of a fake psychic working with the police department to solve more murders than ever thought possible in a small town. Somehow, this show always manages to stay in the top five slots in the "Recently Watched" category of Netflix for us. A couple weeks ago, we were watching an episode called "Dual Spires", an episode were Shawn and Gus go to a small town that is hosting a cinnamon festival. While there, they enjoy many slices of cinnamon pie. Which got me thinking....

Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Cookies

This Former Dessert of the Month is Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Cookies, and combines my son's love of peanut butter with my wife's and daughter's loves of all things chocolate.  These will not last long in my house, nor yours either, I imagine.

Pumpkin Latte Turnovers

Every year I look forward to Starbuck's holiday flavored coffees. One of my favorites is the pumpkin latte, and with autumn here (at least on the calendar, it's supposed to be almost 80 in Omaha this week), I can almost taste one right now. This dessert is inspired by the flavors of a tasty fall snack, a warm cinnamon roll and a pumpkin latte.

The filling for these turnovers is a cooked pumpkin custard. I start with brown sugar, flour, and seasonal spices, to which I add canned pumpkin and milk. Once cooked, I add egg yolks, butter, and coffee extract and let it cool.

The pastry for this dessert could not be easier. It is Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry, and is as simple as thawing it out, cutting into squares, and filling with the pumpkin filling.  Once baked and cooled, I top them with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  The final result is a pastry that has all the flavors of a pumpkin latte, but is also reminiscent of pumpkin pie as well.


Pumpkin Latte Turnovers

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 Tbsp coffee extract
1 package Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry

In medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Slowly whisk in pumpkin and milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat. In separate bowl, beat egg yolks. Add 1/2 cup of hot pumpkin mixture to eggs and whisk to combine. Add egg mixture back to pan and boil another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and coffee extract.  Let cool about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Thaw puff pastry according to package directions (about 40 minutes on the counter). Unfold each sheet and cut each sheet into 4 squares. divide pumpkin filling evenly and spoon onto pastry. Fold pastry in half by taking one corner and folding over to opposite corner, forming a triangle.

Place turnovers on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and puffed up. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. If desired, top with cinnamon cream cheese frosting (see recipe below).

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 Tbsp butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

In medium mixing bowl, whip together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla and combine. Gradually add cinnamon and powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until icing is stiff enough to spread. Frost as desired.

Apple Dumplings

This is a recipe I shared for the first time ever last fall. I first made this dessert about 16 years ago, and have been asked numerous times for the recipe. I finally decided to share it because it is one of my favorites. Over the years, I have made very minor changes to the recipe, but the basics have stayed the same.

These apple dumplings just scream fall dessert. The apples are wrapped in pastry and baked, then topped with an apple cider sauce and served with either vanilla ice cream or maple whipped cream. They are a bit labor intensive, so they are usually reserved for special occasions in our house. Hopefully you enjoy these as much as my family does. If not, seek mental help.

Apple Dumplings

8 Granny Smith apples

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup raisins, if desired

1 recipe Basic Pie Crust

1 recipe Apple Cider Sauce (see below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  In small bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins (if using).  Set aside.

Cut a very thin slice off the top of each apple. Using a melon baller, scoop straight down from top to remove seeds. Make sure you leave the bottom of the core intact or the apple will fall apart. Peel apple, leaving about 1/4 of peel around bottom of apple. Divide butter mixture evenly between apples and stuff into cavity.

Roll 1/2 of dough out to 16x16 inch rectangle. Cut dough into four 8x8 inch squares. Place once apple in center of each square. Fold dough up around apple and, using a small amount of water, seal at top. Repeat with remaining apples and other half of dough. Cut a small slit in top over center of apple to allow steam to escape. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Top each apple with 3 Tbsp of Apple Cider Sauce and return to oven for 5 minutes. Let cool for at least 45 minutes before serving.

To serve, top Apple Dumplings with remaining warm Apple Cider Sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of maple whipped cream.

Apple Cider Sauce

3 cups cups apple cider, divided

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

3 Tbsp cornstarch

In medium saucepan over medium low heat, bring 2 1/2 cups apple cider to a simmer. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Cook 5 minutes. In a small container with a tight fitting lid, shake remaining 1/2 cup cold apple cider together with cornstarch to dissolve. Slowly pour cornstarch mixture into simmering apple cider, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Jamie's Dream Cake

A couple weeks ago, my wife was telling me about a dream she had. During the dream, for some reason, she was eating a slice of cake. She could not tell me why, only that it was the best cake ever. As she started to explain the cake (knowing her, I was expecting a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting), she told me the cake seemed weird to her. She then proceeded to describe the cake as a blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting. I kind of perked up at that moment, then she said she hadn't told me the weird part yet.

Iron Skillet Peach Crisp

The months of July and August mean one thing to me...PEACH SEASON!!!  With a large farmer's market only about 15 minutes from my house, I am able to get good, fresh peaches every weekend.  A couple weekends ago, I picked up a few peaches that weren't quite ready to eat.  I stashed them in a paper bag on the counter, intending to ripen them so I could pack them in my lunch during the week.  Two days later, I checked the bag and found perfectly ripe peaches, too ripe in fact.  There was no way they were going to last all week without getting all soft and mushy.

I decided to make a dessert for the whole family to enjoy.  I thought about making a peach pie, then contemplated peach dumplings, before finally settling on peach crisp cooked in my new iron skillet (more to come from the iron skillet later).  Growing up, my grandmother made apple crisp quite often, and I loved the variety of textures in the dessert.  I decided to make basically the same thing, using peaches instead of the apples, and cooking the whole thing in a skillet instead of a baking dish.


Iron Skillet Peach Crisp

8 cups peeled and sliced peaches (about 7-8 small or 5 large)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 Tbsp flour, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together peaches, brown sugar, 3 Tbsp flour, and cinnamon.  Pour into 10 inch iron skillet.  Set aside while making topping.

In small mixing bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup flour with oats, sugar, and salt.  Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles loose wet sand.  Spread topping mixture over peaches.  Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until peaches are bubbly and topping is golden brown.  Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Quick Peanut Butter Fudge

Although my wife loves nearly everything chocolate, she finds chocolate fudge to be too rich.  I agree with her, plus the process of making fudge just seems like too much work to me.  Additionally, there are so many things that can go wrong that the whole idea just doesn't seem worth it.  So for a long time, fudge was just something we had at other people's house or purchased near the holiday season.

Then I found this recipe.  I can't take credit for it, but man do I wish I could.  We both love peanut butter, so peanut butter fudge is right up our alley.  And considering it only uses four ingredients and can be put together in about 5 minutes total.  All this, and it is made in the microwave.  No double boiler, no candy thermometers, and no dropping hot syrup into water looking for the perfect consistency.  Just microwave, stir, pour into pan, and refrigerate.  It is literally foolproof.  I like to use creamy peanut butter, but crunchy works as well.

A quick tip about measuring peanut butter.  If you spray the measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray, you can remove the peanut butter from the measuring cup much easier.


Quick Peanut Butter Fudge

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb (by weight) powdered sugar

Place butter and peanut butter in large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Stir mixture.

Return butter mixture to microwave.  Microwave on high another 2 minutes (CAUTION:  it will be like hot lava at this point.  Use pot holders).  Remove from microwave and quickly stir in vanilla.  Add powdered sugar and stir until well mixed.

Spread mixture into parchment lined 8x8 inch or 7x11 inch baking pan.  Refrigerate at least two hours.  Cut into 1-inch pieces.  Keep tightly covered at room temperature.

Nutella Brownies

I have decided to do away with my dessert of the month page. It just seems criminal to only share one dessert per month. As a result of this decision, I will be reposting some of the desserts that have previously been posted on that page. This is the first, and by far the most popular, of my former Desserts of the Month. I will be adding some of the other desserts here in the near future.

This dessert is something I knew my wife would like, and was inspired by watching the Food Network. I call it simply Nutella Brownies. Nutella is a wonderful chocolate and hazelnut spread that is almost the consistency of peanut butter, and can be found in the peanut butter section of the grocery store. It is extremely rich, so a little goes a long way.

My brownies start as a basic batch of brownies, but are then iced with Nutella and sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts and mini chocolate chips. I even like to stir some hazelnuts into the brownie batter prior to baking. These brownies are very rich, so serve with a glass of milk and enjoy.




Nutella Brownies


Ingredients:
1 7x11 pan brownies (made from scratch or boxed mix)
1 jar Nutella
2/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips




Bake brownies according to recipe directions.  If desired, stir 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts into batter.  Allow brownies to cool completely (this is the hardest part of making these brownies, I want to cut right into them as soon as they come out of the oven).









Spread thin layer of Nutella over brownies (you should have some left over, the extra goes good in crepes the next day).  Sprinkle evenly with hazelnuts and chocolate chips.  Place in 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes, or until chocolate chips start to melt.  Remove from oven, let cool 5 minutes, cut, and serve.  Enjoy.

Pie Crust

There are hundreds of different pies out there.  Apple, cherry, pumpkin, even chicken pot pie.  The one thing they have in common, a nice flaky crust to hold the filling.  This recipe is the homemade pie crust recipe I use for all of my pies.  It comes out flaky and is very versatile.  With holiday season coming up, I figured this was a good recipe to get out now, rather than waiting for Thanksgiving to share it.

The crust can be made by hand in a regular mixing bowl using a pastry cutter, but I like the ease of using the food processor for this.  The crust comes together quicker, and I usually wind up with less flour all over me.

This recipe makes enough crust for two single crust pies or one double crust pie.


Basic Pie Crust

3 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
8 Tbsp vegetable shortening
9 Tbsp butter
7-10 Tbsp ice water

Place flour, sugar, and salt in food processor.  Pulse 2-3 times to mix.  Add shortening to processor. Pulse until blended.  Add butter and pulse 5-6 times or just until blended (mixture should look like wet sand).  Add water, starting with 7 Tbsp, and pulse until mixed and dough forms.  Add extra water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until dough holds together in a ball.

Remove dough from food processor, divide in half, and wrap in plastic wrap.  Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to rolling out.  Use as directed in your favorite pie recipe.