After a long break from recipe blogging, I am excited to be back and to introduce a new member of my family. This new addition has been long awaited and I am happy to call it my own…

My brand new cuisinart food processor was a gift for my birthday. I am trying to think of recipes that require a food processor, just so I can play with my new toy. I decided, for my first round using my food processor, I would make an apple crisp. Rather than doing a plain old pie I decided to make them bite sized. These little pies would be great as an addition to your fall party.

Bite Sized Apple Pies

Topping:
1 cup Oatmeal
1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 stick butter, chilled

Filling:
6-8 Medium Honey Crisp Apples (or another firm, tart, cooking apple)
1/2 stick Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Tbsp Cold Water

1 recipe Pie Crust

Place all topping ingredients in the bowl of the food processor. You can easily do this by hand, I just really wanted to use my new food processor! Blitz a few times until ingredients are well combined.

Peel and dice apples. Saute in a medium pan over medium heat, with butter. Cook until nearly soft. Add brown sugar and cinnamon. Combine cornstarch and water and pour into simmering apple mixture. Cook, while stirring until well thickened. Turn off heat and allow to cook slightly.

Roll out chilled pie crust and cut into circles. Be sure to cut one then double check that the circle size works for the size of your muffin pan. Place circles in greased muffin tin, be sure not to pierce holes in the bottom. You can use mini muffin tins for bite sized treats or regular for something more substantial. Spoon filling into dough cups, all the way to the top. Place one spoon full of topping over that. Press the topping gently so the crumbs don’t fall off of your pies. Bakes pies at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes then serve warm.

If you are in a rush and don’t want to make all of these components from scratch you can:

Use pre-rolled purchased pie crust
Use canned apple filling
Give the recipe to someone who likes to cook and invite yourself over for dinner

~SD

When I was younger I had what you could call an obsessoin with cherry pie. Whenever we would go to my Grandma’s Restaurant I would order cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. Now, I would also order nachos and chicken fingers, but cherry pie was my all time favorite. As I have grown older my tastes have evolved away from cheesy nachos… but not away from cherry pie! I rarely make cherry pie, but when I do it is an all day task with stewed fresh cherries and an ornately decorated pie. Recently I decided to simplify the recipe and make it accesible for any home cook. I hope I won’t be judged for using canned cherries here, but these little cherry tarts were truly a hit with all who tried them!

Cherry Tarts

For the crust:

4 cups All-Purpose Flour
¾ cup Shortening
¾ cup Butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
½ cup Water, ice cold
1 Egg
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Combine flour, sugar, salt, butter and shortening in a large bowl. Work together with your hands until mixture forms small balls. For detailed instructions please refer to my apple pie post. In a small liquid measuring cup combine water, egg and vinegar and mix well. Slowly incorporate liquid in to flour mixture, be careful not to over mix. The dough should be moist, but not too wet and will not be completely smooth. Knowing the proper texture can only come with practice. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap for about a half an hour.

For Tarts:

1 can Cherry Pie Filling
Cinnamon
Egg White
Water
1 cup Powdered Sugar
Water

Sprinkle pie filling with a fair amount of cinnamon ( about 1/2 tsp). This little twist will make you fill better about using canned filling, at least it did for me! Roll out pie crust until about 1 mm thick. Cut into 4 inch circles. Mix egg white with about 2 tablespoons of water, and brush the outer edge of the discs. Place about three cherries in the center of the dough discs, too much will result in leakage! Close dough circles into a half moon shape, securing the edge by pressing with a fork- but not piercing. Brush outside with egg wash. Place on greased tray and bake until golden brown at 350 degrees (12-15 min). While tarts are baking whisk together powdered sugar and water. Add the water very slowly, because a little goes a long way. About 1 Tbsp. Brush over tarts immediately after pulling them from the oven. This will melt the glaze a bit and make the finish look smoother.

There is no finished picture of these tarts because they disappeared too fast! They are now a family favorite! You can try these with any sort of filling that your family likes… just be creative!

~SD

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today as I was sorting through my daily mail that usually consists of junk, bills and the occasional card I came upon something out of the ordinary.  There, addressed to me, was a letter from my alma mater.  This envelope was especially interesting because it looked like the poor person who addressed it had the same terrible hand writing as I have been cursed with!  Upon further inspection I realized that I had, in fact, addressed the envelope… was this some kind of joke?  No, this was a letter that I had written to myself five years ago, in my junior year of high school!  I had completely forgotten about this assignment, but was impressed to see that a younger me had written quite a long letter!

As I read the letter memories flooded back to me… I could picture myself curled up in my overstuffed pink arm chair, surrounded by childhood collectibles writing vigorously every thought that came to mind.  Of course, I wrote about the straight A’s I received on my report card (for the first time ever) and how I should learn to love cleaning my kitchen, but I went a little deeper than that.  I wrote about how important my family was to me and how grateful I was for all of the opportunities I had.  To quote a younger me I said,

“I realize that I am so lucky, my family is one of the few that I know that actually eat supper together every night… I can only imagine what it will be like in five years!”

Five years have past and so much has happened to me since.  I achieved every goal I had set for myself way back then: get scholarships, go to a good culinary school, and become an Executive Chef.  I have maintained certain things that I have always been most important to me, it is still my top priority to feed my family, to cook for others and to be hospitable.  I don’t know where I will be five years from now, but I know that those things will never change.  Thank you Mrs. E. Miller for sending those letters… it was a true joy looking back.

After taking a trip down memory lane I thought I would make something very special.  When I was a junior in high school I made it my quest to create the best apple pie.  I was practicing and planning for a $25,000 scholarship to a very prestigious culinary school- an apple pie baking contest.  For two years I devoted myself to researching apples, crust and pie baking techniques.  I baked over 100 pies and recorded my finding in an “apple pie journal”.  I did not win the competition (which is something I am still bitter about and is another long story) but I did perfect my apple pie recipe!

Pie Crust
Yield: 4, 8 ounce portions

4 cups All-Purpose Flour
¾ cup Shortening
¾ cup Butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
½ cup Water, ice cold
1 Egg
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Start by combining the flour, butter, shortening, salt and sugar.  Work together with your hands like this…

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