Puffy Oven Apple Pancake

I love breakfast, but I rarely get to eat it at breakfast time. I usually have breakfast for dinner! This recipe comes from my very first Betty Crocker cookbook. Its pages are worn and crinkled, and the cover has long fallen off. I return to it again and again.

Puffy Oven Pancakes are easy to make, but do take some time to bake. Add apples, peaches, or any spices you wish! Sprinkle with powdered sugar, or even turn it into a dessert with whipped cream.

Puffy Oven Apple Pancake
Betty Crocker
Serves 1-4 

2 Tb butter
2 Tb brown sugar
1 teas cinnamon
1/2 teas nutmeg
1 cup diced apples (peeled or unpeeled)
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 teas salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the butter in a pie dish, and place it in the oven to melt. Don't forget it! When the butter is melted, brush it up the sides of the dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg over the top of the butter, and layer apples over that.  (If you want a plain pancake, omit the seasonings and apples.)

In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly.  Add in flour, milk, and salt, and stir until just mixed. There WILL BE lumps! It's okay!  Pour batter over the top of the apples.

Place the dish in the oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until edges are browned and puffy.

Remove from oven and IMMEDIATELY run a spatula around the edges to loosen the pancake. Flip it out onto a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, pour on the syrup or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder

Before I made my "tv debut" last week, I watched several of the videos available to see what to do. One of the videos I watched was a chef from Stein Lodge in Utah making Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder. I knew I had to make it.  Apples, carrots, cider... it just screams Fall.  Plus, it bakes for a few hours in your oven or crockpot, making it a great end of day meal!

The finished product got two thumbs up from me and my husband. The meat is moist, and so flavorful. My 8yr old said "I like pork now!" It's definitely a make-again recipe !

The video can be found on Connect2Utah if you need visuals. I served the pork with some Butternut Squash, which recipe will be up soon!


Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder

Steinlodge.com (KUTV)  
Serves 8-12  
Can also cook in the crock pot! Just brown the meat, saute the onions, and place everything in the crockpot.


Ingredients:
1 pork shoulder (or pork butt)
2 Tb olive oil
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
tsp cinnamon
tsp ground clove
tsp garlic salt
5 bay leaves
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 apples, green or granny smith, cut into wedges
4 cups apple cider
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
3 tsp cornstarch

Directions:
1. Clean pork shoulder of excess fat, rub the shoulder with the spices (pepper, salt, cinnamon, cloves, garlic salt)
2. Heat a thick bottom roasting pan over medium/high heat. Add the oil to the pan, then add the pork and brown on all sides for 3-5 minutes per side.
3. Add the bay leaves, onions, carrots, apples to pan and saute until onions are softened. Add the cider and the Worcestershire sauce.
4. Place a lid on the pan and place into a pre-heated oven. Cook at 310 degrees for 5 hours.
5. Remove the pork from the pan and pull from the bone, removing the fat.
6. Add cornstarch to the sauce remaining in the pan, place over medium heat and bring the sauce to a simmer.
7. Strain the sauce, adjust seasoning and pour the sauce over the meat.

Enjoy! I know we did! 

Apple Pie and Apple Tarts!

Here is another "From Mom" recipe. I make Apple Pie every Thanksgiving, and always get rave reviews. The crust is so easy to make!

Now, truth time. I really battled myself over whether to make this recipe public. I mean, it's family tradition! But, the recipe is too good to NOT share!

I do usually make a full pie with this. This time, however, I thought that little pies, or tarts, would be fun to make! As you can see, they are far from perfect! But, they had just the right ratio of crust to apples. Add some ice cream... yum!

Apple Pie and Apple Tarts!

Pie Crust (Makes 2 crusts-one bottom, one top)
2 cups flour
1 teas salt
1 teas sugar

Mix ingredients together.

Add 1/3 c. Shortening.

Cut with fork or pastry cutter until it looks like cornmeal. Add another 1/3 cup of shortening and cut with fork until it looks like giant peas.
Add 4-5 TB COLD water.

**The cold water is important. The colder the water, the flakier the crust will be. So, before starting, put a cup of ice water in the freezer. By the time you get to this step, it will be cold enough to use! I also seem to need more than 5 TB of water- just use 1TB at a time until the dough forms a ball.

Mix until dough forms a ball.

Divide dough in half, and roll out on wax paper or flour covered surface.

For Pie: Flip dough in pie pan and press in.
Roll out second crust.

For Tarts: Use a round cookie cutter or glass and cut out circles about 1/2 inch bigger than your muffin tins. Try to get them as close as possible, as the dough gets tougher every time you have to re-roll it.

Tarts: Place dough circles in muffin tin, pressing against the sides. There should be some dough that overflows the tins.

Now for the Apples!

Now, here is my secret. I use 3-4 different brands of apples.
Why?
This adds texture, color, and different taste to the pies! Try it! You may get an odd look from the cashier when you hand her 3 bags full of 2 apples each, but hey, what do you care? You are making fabulous pie!

5-6 Apples - peeled or not, your choice. I leave the peels on cause I'm lazy.
Chop apples. I chop them very finely as you can see in the picture.
You need enough to heap in the pan; but don't put them in the pan yet!

Apple Topping:
1 cup sugar
3 TB dry Tapioca Pudding (Absorbs moisture, keeping your crust dry)
1 1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/4 teas. nutmeg
Mix all ingredients and pour over apples. Mix thoroughly.

Fill your pie crust(s) with apples- heaping it in the crust.

Place dabs of butter (pea sized) over apples.

Place second crust over the top, and seal edges.

Poke some holes in the top- or get creative and make a fun design.

For Pie: Cover edges with foil until the last 5-10 min. of baking.
(This insures that your edges won't burn!)
Bake at 425 for 60 min. or so. Check at 40 min.

For Tarts: Bake at 425 for 20-30 min. or until top is slightly browned.
Let cool in pan, then remove to serving plate.
Serve warm with Ice Cream or whipped cream!

Enjoy!

Harvest Apple Crisp

I bought 2 bags full of Granny Smith apples a few weeks ago, and then didn't get to use them for their planned purpose. My kids only eat red apples, so I was in a quandry on what to do with the rest. Then I remembered how much my husband LOVES Apple Crisp! I pulled out my trusty "Lion House Bakery" Cookbook and went to work!

The Lion House Bakery is a famous bakery here in Salt Lake City that has been around since the pioneers. They have the most amazing rolls... mmm...

Anyway... back to the apples!

The recipe states to peel the apples. As you can see in the picture, I skipped this step. It was mostly because I was being lazy. It didn't hurt the dish at all, but the skin were a little tough to eat. Next time, I'll bear up and just peel them!

The Lion House Bakery Harvest Apple Crisp

10 cups sliced (and peeled) apples
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup, plus 1 TB all-purpose flour
1 teas ground cinnamon
1/4 teas ground nutmeg (I added this)
1/2 cup water
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teas baking powder
1/4 teas baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. In a small bowl, mix the granulated sugar, 1 TB of the flour, the ground cinnamon, and the nutmeg together. Sprinkle over the apples. Pour water evenly over all; set aside. In a large bowl, combine oats, remaining 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and melted butter. Stir to combine, then crumble evenly over the apple mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the apples are tender.

MUST serve warm with vanilla ice cream! :)

Enjoy!

Apple Cider Spiced Donuts

I've never made donuts. I've always thought it would be difficult. I was wrong. There, I said it. I. Was. Wrong.

I found this great recipe on OurBestBites.com. Can you tell how much I love these ladies? They are masters at wonderful recipes!

I'm not going to post the recipe here, just the yummy pictures. I'll just send you over to the wonderful land of Our Best Bites. Make sure you take these bread crumbs with you so you can find your way back!

I only made one batch of actual donuts. By then, the kids were ready for some mommy time. So, we quickly rolled up the rest of the dough and made donut holes! Yum!

One note about the holes: Don't make them too thick or round, or they won't cook all the way through. Also... on the round donuts... My middle cookie cutter was too big, so I got skinny donuts. Wait until you see Kate's on OurBestBites...mmm...

Enjoy!

Crockpot Applesauce

I had some extra apples lying around, so I thought I would make applesauce. It was so easy to make! I think I'm going to make it from now on!

Here is the recipe I used. It turned out tasting just like the inside of an Apple Pie! If you don't want it to be as sugary, or taste like apple pie, you can use less spices!

6-8 Apples, peeled, sliced
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 to 1teas. Pumpkin Pie spice (or add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves)

Place all ingredients in a crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6 hrs, or on high for about 3 hrs. Mash all the apples, and Enjoy!