Tag Archives: crumble

“What do I make for my Cookie Exchange?” (AKA The Big Dessert Post) – 2011 Update

12 Dec

#1 question that is coming up right now:

“What should I make for my cookie exchange?”

(Funny story… I have never been to a cookie exchange. I do love the concept… trading recipes and eating cookies does sound particularly awesome.  Perhaps I shall host one next year!)

In honor of the holidays… here is a selection of options that I have blogged about in the past that are great for a cookie exchange (with some 2011 updates):


Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars/Cups (cups recipe at bottom of post)

Black and White Cookies

“O” Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cake Balls (they’re almost a cookie)

Homemade Crunchie Bars AKA Chocolate Covered Honeycomb (also not quite a cookie, but I think candy can count for an Exchange)

Chocolate Coffered Toffee with Salt (Candies for Cookies)

 

2011 Update:

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

 

Chestnut Cookies

 

Homemade Salted Caramels (this photo was done in a mold and topped with chocolate)

 

Faux Fudge:

 

Meringue Mini Pies

 

Not into cookies/candies but still need a good dessert?


Peach and Pear Crumble

Key Lime Pie

Pie Variation #1 (Apple, with detailed instructions on making pie crust)

Pie Variation #2 (Cranberry Apple Pie- Prepared Crust)

Berry Belt Cake

 

2011 additions:

Grandma’s Plum Torte

Pumpkin Cheesecake: (and how to water-bathe it)

Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie

Strawberry Shortcake

Confetti Cupcakes with Bailey’s Frosting

 

If anyone does use any of these recipes for an Exchange, just give them this blog URL and ask them to tell all their friends!  K? 🙂

I will continue to add to this post as I post more dessert recipes.  So bookmark it or find it in the “Best of the Best” tab on the title bar.

Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie

2 Feb

Sometimes, inspiration comes from strange places.  After making a pork chop recipe in the slow cooker with wine, apples, and chestnuts, Mike and I realized that the toppings were SENSATIONAL and would probably make for a lovely pie.  How could you go wrong with slow cooked apples and chestnuts in wine?  And so… Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie was dreamed up.  (Name is still in the works… feel free to comment with suggestions).

First up… peeling the apples.  I just got this handy dandy new contraption (which obviously doubles as a torture device) from The Pampered Chef that peels, cores, and slices apples!  I would say it works as intended about 50% of the time…

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Delivering a perfect core.

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A (mostly) peeled and perfectly sliced apple rings.

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Which can then be cut in half to make perfectly sliced pie filling.

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Uniform thin size! How novel!

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The other 50% of the time… rough.  So I wound up slicing it (and leaving SOME peel on).

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Then the apples get thrown into the slow cooker with the wine and chestnuts.  For the pie, I added cranberries, brown and white sugars, and cinnamon.

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Put it on low for about 4 hours and v’oila! Slow cooked apples, cranberries, and chestnuts in wine.

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During the last 30 minutes of slow cooking time, I started on the crust.  First you take softened butter and cut it up into the bottom of a pie plate.  Then you pile flour, sugar, red wine vinegar, and milk on top.

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Try to combine it with a knife… give up and use your hands.

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Then push it into the bottom of the plate so it’s nice and even on the bottom and sides.  Poke it with a fork to prevent catastrophe.

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And then put them in the oven to cook until they are just barely brown and hardened.

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If you don’t have a Pie Shield, I highly recommend them.  Sure you can use tinfoil to make sure the edges of the pie don’t get too brown, but why burn yourself construction a crazy tinfoil sculture when you can lay this cheap puppy on top and keep it all evenly cooked?

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I even made some mini versions to see how individualized portions would turn out.  (You know I love my silicone cupcake cups!)

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While the pie is baking up, you can make the crumble top.  I put a bit extra lemon in mine to counteract the sweetness of the crust.

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Once all the pieces are ready, you scoop out the delicious slow cooked chunks and put them into the pie. (HINT:  Save the wine left over and it is DELICIOUS as hot mulled wine)

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Pack the filling up to the brim.

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Take a moment to revel in how delicious it looks.

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Try not to shove your face into the whole plate and eat it up.

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Ok… maybe you can steal one chestnut from the top of the mini pie.  I won’t tell.
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Then start the crumbling.

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Until only a little bit of fruity goodness is peaking through.

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Sometimes I add even less… as I can now see through my alternate pie compared to the one above.

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And don’t forget about the minis.

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Sometimes you can even cover the entire thing in crumbs.  No judgments here!  But you will have to bake it until the crumbs start to turn golden on top.

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And then slice it up and try not to eat the whole thing while your guests look on in jealousy.

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Okay fine… eat the whole mini pie.

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It’s just so damn cute and delicious afterall!

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This was a HUGE crowd pleaser.  Really unique flavors and the sweet, buttery crust combined so well with the tart wine and cranberries and the slight sour in the crumble.  I think I will make this again and again and again and again and again…

Peach and Pear Crumble

10 Nov

I was reading TheKitchn blog and stumbled on this post, which led me to this recipe.  I had a whole bunch of peaches and pears to use up so I decided this was a perfect opportunity to bake up what sounded like a great recipe.

I first cut up all the fruit (I think it wound up being 2 large peaches and 3 large pears).  I mixed all that with 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, two tablespoons of brown sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a dash of freshly-ground nutmeg (just as the blog told me) and put it into the bottom of a pie plate.  It said not to grease it, but that always makes me nervous… so I sprayed it with Pam Butter Spray before I loaded it all in there.

Then I made the crumble by combining sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.  This was then mixed with the egg.  If you mix it by hand (and I literally mean squeezing the mixture between your fingers), you will get little nuggets of crumble.

I then put that right over the fruit.

And poured the melted butter over top.

And put it in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes until it was nicely browned on top.  (My oven takes a bit longer for most recipes, so I would check it after 30 minutes)

It wound up more liquidy inside than I expected.

And it certainly needed to be served in a bowl to look pretty since it had no form.  But I wasn’t impressing anyone.

And it was perfectly paired with some whipped cream.

As far as recipes go, this was a damn good one.  But I would at least one tweak.  Mainly… there wasn’t enough BROWN SUGAR!  Now yes… I do like my desserts sweet, but the best part of a crumble, in my opinion, is the fruit paired with the buttery crumbly top and the bit of molasses stuff you get from the combo of brown sugar and fruit juice.  Also, the original recipe called for crystallized ginger, which I didn’t have… so I went without.  Perhaps that was the missing piece to send it over the edge.

Here is the original plum recipe: http://orangette.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-i-do-now.html