Apple pie

Apple pie, a photo by Adventuress Heart on Flickr.


My new favourite pie dough recipe:


1 cup butter (cut in small cubes) 


2 1/2 cups flour


1 tsp salt


1/8 tsp baking powder


2 tbsp lemon juice


1/4-1/2 cup ice cold water (mixed with a bit of milk powder) OR mixed with some milk.  




Directions: 


Add the salt and baking soda to the flour, mix and add small cubes of cold butter. Work with hands until it resembles a crumb mixture then set in the fridge. 


Prepare your filling (I cook my apples a tad so they soften up and cool down before pouring in the crust) 


Add the lemon juice and start with 1/4 cups of the liquid and work until the dough comes together, just bring it together and don't overwork.  If it needs more liquid keep adding 1 tbsp at a time just until it forms a ball.  


Divide into 2 disks and wrap in plastic wrap.  Set in fridge for 20 minutes or until ready to use. 


Roll it out and add your filling. 




Bake at 400 for 35 minutes then reduce to 375 until crust is golden. 


Let cool and enjoy! 




The recipe is a combination of an old apple dumplings recipe I saved in my teenage years from allrecipes.com and martha stewarts pate brisee. 

Kalter hund

Here's a fun recipe! Great for kids too, no baking required.

My mother used to make a few variations of this German cake, but this time I did a simple melted chocolate and cookie (there were some hazelnuts in the chocolate) and it made a perfect snack for gaming on the pc (Yes you heard that right, I prefer the PC to console gaming :))

Basically it's very simple, just melt your favourite type of chocolate and get some of your favourite cookies, we usually use the social tea cookies (we call them "Baby cookies" in our house) but you could do an arrow root cookie, or digestive biscuit or graham cracker, whatever you like!

Layer the chocolate with cookie and set in the fridge then slice it, it may break a bit but it's ok because the crumbs make a nice topping for ice cream ^_^

You could add some heavy cream to your chocolate for more of a softer "ganache" or my mother did a chocolate pudding cake like this where the cookies softened up nicely like layers of cake while it set in the fridge.

Enjoy!

P.S it was a super rainy day today, drizzle would not stop so it made it hard to take some good shots but I gave it my best shot. The rain is great for the garden but I hope the sun returns soon.

Carrot cake, with pineapple

Carrot cake (with pineapple)

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cups vegetable oil

1/3 cup crushed pineapple

1 cup of each white sugar and brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 taspoon allspice or 1/8 ground clove

3-4 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugars and 2 teaspoons vanilla as well as the crushed pineapple.

Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Carrot cake (without pineapple)

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar/brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.


Original recipe courtesy of Allrecipes

Nom Nom's over the winter months

Here are some of the shots I took of some of the foods I cooked over the winter months.

Between December and February not only did my oven/stove break down but so did the BBQ so both were replaced and I'm happy with the results of them so far :)

I'll try to write a review for my Samsung Range because it has the interesting divider/insert that can turn the extra large oven into two ovens for cooking in each area at a different temperature, very cool!

Spring is in the air!

Teaopia's Fireside S'mores TEA

Here's how I enjoyed my new S'mores tea from Teaopia! Prepared in a similar way to Indian Chai Tea where the blend is infused into the milk.

I chose brown sugar as a sweetener and it complemented it very well :)

Oh and I just want to also mention that it tastes great steeped as regular tea with water, has a real toasty flavour!