Time for some 3.1415296!

As promised, here is the apple crumble pie!
This was not my original plan for 4th of July dessert. I was going to do a cheesecake which had fruit that made it look like an American flag. My brother is not a fan of cheesecake. My brother is not a fan of cream cheese (I don't know what's wrong with him). So I was a good sister and I changed it to apple crumble pie because I knew he liked that and I really just wanted all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth to stop.
Since I wasn't initially going to make this, I hadn't taken my usual apple crumble pie recipe with me. I had to find something new, and I'm glad I did because I found an amazing pie crust recipe! This crust is SO EASY anyone can make it without failing! I promise!!! So here you have it. The pie crust...

Butter Flaky Pie Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup very cold water

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in plate, press dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

Easy right? I will say this. I didn't think to pull the crust out of the fridge so that I could give it time to soften a bit before rolling out, so I stuck it in the microwave on the very lowest power setting for about 15 seconds or so. You don't want the dough to get warm because then the butter pieces will start melting and it just won't bake right. Also, this is a single pie crust recipe, just double it if you need a crust to cover the filling :)

And here's the apple crumble part!

Apple Crumble Pie
Pastry for a single-crust 9-inch pie
6 cups chopped, peeled tart apples
2 TB butter, melted
2 TB sour cream
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
TOPPING:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cold butter
(For the topping, I did brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar, because a crumble is just not a crumble to me unless brown sugar is used in it. You could do it either way and it will be fine)

1. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry; flute edges. In a large bowl, combine the apples, butter, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, flour cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon into pastry shell. For topping, combine flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling.
2. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack.

I think I cooled mine for about an hour and it was perfect for eating by then.

Doesn't that look delicious? You could probably just replace the 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg with a whole teaspoon of apple pie spice.

I'm going to try and explain through pictures, the easiest way I have found to get a pie crust into a pie plate (You might be thinking 'There's not any possible way that's easier than trying to pick it up with my hands and having it fall apart! Blasphemy!' But this is probably a technique you already learned from your mom. We're not reinventing the wheel here). ANYWAYS! Roll it out flat. Duh...

Put the rolling pin in in the center and pull the dough over it.

Set the pin in the middle of the plate, so that half the dough is laying in it, and roll the pin out so that the dough ends up doing this:

See? I don't know how many times 'easy as pie' was referenced to while baking this thing. Really it was a ridiculous amount.

Here it is before baking.

And AFTER! I don't know that there's much better in life than a good crumble pie...

Source: www.allrecipes.com 

Apple Pull-Apart Bread

So, you know by now that I love love love LOVE being in the kitchen right? I've cooked many things, and I've baked many things, but I don't know of anything that feels more rewarding than successfully baking bread. It's so therapeutic. And when I say baking bread, I don't mean getting some frozen bread dough from the store, or throwing a bunch of ingredients in a bread machine and letting it do all the work. I mean honest to goodness, starting from scratch bread. I LOVE IT!!!!! That being said, I first learned how to bake it in culinary school, which I loved but was also somewhat intimidated by, so I didn't really try baking bread anymore until I moved back home last summer. I can say I have successfully baked quite a few yeast breads since then. YOU CAN DO IT TOO!!! It's not hard and if any of you out there have any qualms about it, forget them and just try it! As long as you stick with the instructions, it will turn out great. Here's a link for a really good site with a lot of info on baking yeast breads.

This is a delicious sweet bread that would be awesome for breakfast or Christmastime. My brother said it smelled like Christmas when he walked in while it was baking.

Apple Pull-Apart Bread
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees) ***I'll explain, at the end of the recipe, what I did instead of scalding milk***
1/2 cup butter, melted, divided
1 egg
2/3 cup plus 2 TB sugar, divided
1 tsp salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 medium tart apple, peeled and chopped (chop it really small)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I did not use these of course, so I just added an additional 1/2 cup of apple)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
ICING:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 to 4 1/2 tsp hot water

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add 2 TB butter, egg, 2 TB sugar, salt, and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Divide each half in half again until you have 16 pieces from each (32 total). Pat or roll each piece into a 2 1/2 inch circle. Combine the apple, pecans, cinnamon, and remaining sugar; place 1 tsp in the center of each circle. Pinch edges together and seal, forming a ball. Dip in remaining butter.
4. In a greased 10 inch tube pan, place 16 balls seam side down; sprinkle with 1/4 cup apple mixture. Layer remaining ball; sprinkle evenly with remaining apple mixture. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 45 minutes.
5. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Combine icing ingredients; drizzle over bread. YIELD: 1 loaf.

***My substitution for scalded milk: Dissolve the yeast in warm water (110-115 degrees) that equals the amount of milk called for. Then, with the flour and other dry ingredients, add 1/3 cup dry milk powder per 1 cup milk.
You can scald milk if you like but then you have to wait for it to cool and if you scald it too much then your bread will have a burned flavor. This is just much easier and time efficient.





This is what your dough should look like about halfway through the kneading process. If it does this when you pull on it, then it's not done.

This is what it will look like when it's mixed perfectly. It shouldn't tear, but make a nice little "window" that light can get through.

Before...

...and doubled!!!

Here are some flat circles ready to go! That's the apple mixture there on the right. Like I said, chop the apples into very small chunks.

This is it right out of the oven! Oh my gosh the apple, cinnamon goodness was just DELICIOUS to smell!!!

I ate entirely too much of this after dinner tonight. You might notice a couple empty spots... that would be mine and my brother's fault...