Knitter in the Kitchen

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.  I have been enjoying a lovely time off from work, and there has been much baking going on in the last couple of weeks.  In addition to the Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, I also made Swedish Visiting Cake, lemon bars, oatmeal raisin cookies, and apple crisp.  The apple crisp recipe is new to me and came from a colleague who adapted it from The California Cookbook (1970) by Jeanne Voltz.  The crisp is simple but delicious, and is now my go-to recipe when I don’t feel like rolling out the dough for apple pie.

6-8 apples to yield approximately 6 cups (I used 6 small golden delicious apples)
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/8 cup flour
10 1/2 tablespoons butter, cold (I diced the butter right before using it)

Peel, core, and cut apples into 1/2 inch slices and place in a buttered 7 x 11 baking dish. Stir cinnamon into water and pour mixture over apples. Work together sugar, flour, and butter with fingertips until crumbly and distribute over apples. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes (I baked it for about 45-50 minutes because I wanted my crust a little more golden). Serve warm or cold with vanilla ice-cream.  Enjoy!

I love Dorie Greenspan’s Swedish Visiting Cake, so when she posted a variation called the Swedish Apple Cake, I knew I wanted to try it. The two cakes definitely do taste different, but the Apple Cake is just as easy and delicious! We loved the mild flavor with just the right amount of sweetness.  Next time I have to remember to use more apple slices.
Modifications: used 9.5 inch pie dish and reduced baking time by about 7 minutes.

The Swedish Visiting Cake was another stellar recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours.

The main flavors are almond and lemon. This was a super easy, very quick one-bowl recipe that resulted in a wonderfully delicious cake.  I can definitely see myself baking this cake over and over again.  You can find the recipe here on Dorie’s blog.