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.

The recipe for Janet’s Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake caught my eye in the May 2007 issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray. It was easy to make and the flavors are good. This would be a great brunch item for a chocoholic.

I never thought I would be a Rachel Ray fan, but I enjoyed reading the last two issues of her mag…so much that I even subscribed. I’m seeing her recipes in a new light. And I recently discovered this fun blog focused on Rachel Ray!

When my sister was a teenager, she loved baking. I was unenthusiastic about it back then, but she usually managed to cajole me into the kitchen. By the end, I would always admit grudgingly that I had a good time. We used to bake a variety of goodies together, such as thumbprint cookies, crescent rolls, and Dutch apple pie. The pie was definitely a favorite of mine. It’s been at least five or six years since I’ve had it, so I decided to bake it last weekend.

The recipe comes from my sister’s junior high school home economics course. It is very basic but I think it tastes pretty good.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp shortening
3-4 Tbsp cold water

Measure flour and salt into a bowl.
Cut in shortening thoroughly, until the size of small peas.
Sprinkle in water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing until all flour is moistened and dough begins to stick together.
Gather dough into a ball. Shape into a flattened round on a sheet of wax paper.
Roll the dough until it is two inches larger than an inverted pie pan.
(Yield: one 8- or 9-inch crust)

Filling:
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 apples, peeled and sliced

Stir together all of the filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup margarine or butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup sugar

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together until crumbly. Be sure to break the margarine or butter into very small pieces. Sprinkle over pie. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Eating this pie brings back fond memories of baking with my sister.