Rosemary Spiced Nuts

Earlier this month I had an ugly sweater party, so I made some of the appetizers from the Beekman cookbook. They planned out all of their recipes so well to compliment the seasons that the appetizers were perfect for a holiday party.

The rosemary spiced nuts are crazy easy to make too.

Ingredients:

1 cup pecans*
1 cup roasted cashews*
1 cup unblanched almonds*
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

*Instead of purchasing all three kinds of nuts, I bought a batch of mixed nuts combined. I did have some walnuts and plain old peanuts thrown in there, but it's a little easier on your wallet to go about it this way.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To start, I coated the nuts in melted butter and put them on the baking sheet. The Beekman boys suggest you put the nuts on the baking sheet first, and then you pour the butter over them and then toss them. I just did the reverse.

I put the butter on right in the plastic container the nuts came in and shook it up in there so they were evenly coated.

In a bowl, I mixed the other spices. I poured those right in the container too and mixed it up in there by shaking it. It made sure everything was coated, and it kept the mess contained.

Then I baked them for 10-12 minutes. When they're all cool, you can store them for up to two weeks.

It's been a busy month!

I know it's been a while since I've cobbled together a post for the blog, and I wanted to apologize for that. I've been incredibly busy this month with things work related and with my social life. Add to that a dash of the holidays, and you get a life filled with things to do. Unfortunately, this put my blog on the back-burner, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I already have nine recipes done from the winter section of the Beekman Cookbook. I'm hoping to get one more done before the new year, but if I don't get it done I still won't be behind. 

I've also been cooking a lot of other things on the side, so when I have a lull in Beekman recipes, I'll post them up here too.

Sorry about the delay! I hope you're all having a happy and safe holiday season.

Fall: The Beekman Recipes in Review

Soups:

Roasted Cauliflower and Apple Soup
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Cheese Toast Topped Onion Soup


Salads:

Roasted Beet Tangle
Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Entrees:

Sauteed Chicken with Apples
Blue Cheese Pizza with Carmelized Onions and Apples
Beer Braised Beef with Onion Dumplings
Hungarian Pork Goulash
Butternut Squash Filled Lasagna Rolls
Roasted Pork Loin with Gingerbread Stuffing
Chicken Succotash
Harvest Pork Chili

Deserts:

Apple Crumb Cake
Applesauce
Caramelized Pear Bread Pudding
Apple Butter Turnovers
Red Wine and Spice Poached Pears
Baked Apple Dumplings
Orange Gingerbread and Bourbon Custard *
Rustic Apple Pie

Other:

Pumpkin Cheese Bread
Butter Crumbed Cauliflower
Leek & Potato Gratin
Mulled Cider
Braised Fennel
Basic Pie Crust
Butter Stewed Lima Beans
Mushroom Pilaf

*Technically a recipe from the winter section, but we made it in the fall.

My Top Five:

This was pretty hard for me since I liked so many of the recipes, but some stand out more than others. Usually, these are the recipes that tasted great, were something new to me, and were easy to make.

When it comes to the soups, I'd have to say the Broccoli Cheddar Soup. I know it's something you can easily get anywhere, but this is the best one I've had. Plus, I feel like it's healthier since I'm the one making it, and I know just what is going in there. It was easy to do, and I could see myself making it again in the future. (It doesn't hurt that I love soup either.)

For the entrees, I'm going to pick the Hungarian Pork Goulash. I didn't think this would be something I enjoyed, but it's a total feel good food. It's warm and hearty with good flavors that blend well. I also like it because it's easy for me to bring to work and it's one of those foods that tastes just as good (if not better) re-heated.

In the desert category, the Apple Crumb Cake is a solid choice. It's easy to make, looks good when you're done, and it tastes so stinking good. It holds well, and it stayed moist over time. Granted, it didn't last long because people eat tasty things, but that's just another vote in its favor.

Ok, this one is going to sound dorky, but the Basic Pie Crust really won me over. It's not something you're going to eat alone, and it's not particularly special, but it's a darn good pie crust. Really, having a good pie crust recipe is a good trick to have up your sleeve because it means you're well on your way to making really good pies.

And, lastly, the Red Wine and Spice Poached Pears gave me multiple reasons to like them. You can stuff them with various things, and they're so tasty. Plus, they make your whole home smell wonderful, and they look lovely plated.

I hope you find these recipes as wonderful as I did.

Winter Recipe List

Well, now that fall is over and all of the recipes that come with it, I'd like to introduce you to the list of recipes that we'll be making for the winter months. (December - February)

Soup/Salad

Winter Vegetable Soup
Celery Root Puree

Entrees

Macaroni & Cheese
Chicken n' Dumplings
Pasta with Cabbage, Bacon, and Chestnuts
Pork Roast with Veggies
Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Rosemary
Bourbon Roast Turkey with Cornbread Stuffing
Turkey and Spaghetti Squash Stir-Fry

Deserts/Sweet Things

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Sauce
Spiced Carrot Cake
Fresh Cranberry and Dried Fruit Cobbler
Sweet Potato Pie
Rich Double-Chocolate Pie
Orange Ginerbread

Other

Poached Figs
Rosemary Spiced Nuts
Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Crostini
Spiced Tea
Eggnog
Maple Glazed Candied Sweet Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Glazed Carrots
Smashed Potatoes
Utica Greens
Quick Braised Collards
Supermoist Corn Bread
Cord Bread Stuffing

It's beginning to look a lot like delicioso up in here this season.

Butter Stewed Lima Beans

This side dish was incredibly easy to make, and it was the final recipe I did from the fall section of the Beekman cookbook.

The recipe requires fresh lima beans, but I have no idea where to find them. So, I had to use frozen ones. My lima beans were probably sub-par as a result.

Aside from your lima beans, here are your other ingredients.

Parsley
Thyme (that's the green leafy package laying down there)
Butter (4 tbsps divided evenly)
Salt

You cover the lima beans in cool water, about one inch higher than the beans.

You bring them to a boil and add one pat of the butter, a couple shakes of salt, and some fresh thyme.

You wait about 20 minutes until the beans are soft, but not mushy. 

Then you add the parsley, let it hang out a few more minutes, and you drain.

Mix in the remaining pat of butter, and there you have it. Some super thymey, buttery lima beans. 

I wasn't very impressed with this recipe, but mostly because I'm not a huge fan of lima beans or how over-powering the thyme was in this recipe. If you happen to like lima beans or thyme though, this might be right up your alley. It is easy to make, so why not give it a shot.

Harvest Pork Chili

This recipe was originally for beef, but I don't eat beef so I substituted pork. It also calls for pumpkin, but said that another winter squash could be substituted. I used butternut.

The recipe for this can be found online here.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 pounds well-marbled beef chuck, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
• 1 1/2 pounds pumpkin (or other winter squash, such as kabocha), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 cups cooked pinto beans (one 15-ounce can, rinsed)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven. Dredge the meat in the flour, shaking off the excess. Working in batches (this is so the meat browns, rather than steams), add the beef and cook until browned all over, about 7 minutes. As you work, transfer the meat to a bowl.

Add the garlic, onions and bell peppers and stir to coat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1/4 cup water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender, about 7 minutes.

Stir in the coriander, cocoa powder, cumin, paprika and ancho chile powder. Return the meat to the pan and stir until well coated. Stir in 1 1/2 cups water, the pumpkin, tomato paste and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to the oven. Bake until the meat is tender, 1 hour 30 minutes.

Stir in the beans, return to the oven, and bake for 10 more minutes.

I had the same problem with this recipe that we did with the Beer Braised Beef. It needed a lot more seasoning than what the recipe suggested. It was pretty flavorless overall, and it didn't have the kick I'd want in a chili.

Also, in the future, I think I'd use black beans. That's just a personal preference though.

I didn't take many pictures when I was cooking. Mostly because I was cooking alone, so I couldn't sneak pictures over someone else's shoulder.

There's my partially cooked/browned pork.

And there it is, all mixed together as an end result. If you make it, I'd up all the spices and add some red pepper in there for sure.

Rustic Apple Pie

This recipe totally threw us off because it's nothing like the pies we're used to making. It's supposed to look like this:

(Image taken from myrecipes.com)

We totally made ours look like a pie, and so when it comes to presentation, we'd fail. 

The inside of the pie is strange too. There's no cinnamon, not a lot of sugar, and rosemary. Because of the rosemary, we were afraid the pie would taste a lot like apples and pine trees. 

This recipe is similar to the one we used, except of course, we used the basic pie crust recipe from before. 

Instead of lemon juice we used maple whiskey. 

We made our crust more like a normal pie crust though.

We laid out the bottom of our crust, but we didn't leave enough to fold over the top like a rustic tart.

In a bowl, we mixed the flour, sugar, and rosemary. 

Then we put our apples in. (We used MacCowan.) The flour/sugar/rosemary mixture was sprinkled over the top. Over this, I poured the maple whiskey. It was about an ounce's worth. Jess created a lattice top for the pie so that it was still open, but compatible with the bottom we had already created. 

When we finished the lattice top to the pie, we coated it with an eggwash so it would turn a nice golden brown in the oven.

Our pie took an hour to cook at 350 degrees.

In the oven, make sure you cover the edges with foil so that they don't burn.

It's a tart pie, and the rosemary compliments the flavor if you don't get too much of it in a mouthful. I prefer a tart pie, so this one was right up my alley. In fact, I had seconds. 

Mushroom Pilaf

All right. It looks like I won't have all of the recipes up on the blog before the end of November, but I will have actually made them by the end of the month. All of the recipes will be posted, just not in the idea time frame.

This recipe is also from the Beekman cookbook. I can't find anything similar to it online, so I'm going to post the process and ingredients here, but I won't use the exact text from the book.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Shitake Mushrooms
1/2 bl Cremini Mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/2 tsp sage
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c finely chopped shallot
1 c long grain white rice
3/4 tsp salt
1 carrot, shaved into long slices
1 c frozen peas, thawed
1/2 pecans, toasted and broken into smaller pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

First you have to create a mushroom broth. To do this, you separate the stems from the mushrooms and let them boil in a pot of water with the garlic and the sage. You add 2 1/2-3 cups of water to the stems. You'll need about 2 cups of the broth for later, and some will boil down.

We didn't have enough stems to do this, so we used some of the caps too. Our broth had a heavier mushroom flavor as a result. If you love you some mushrooms, use some caps too.

In a pan, saute the onions in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and saute those until they wilt, which should take about 4 minutes. 

Strain the broth into a separate pan, and measure out 2 cups. If you don't have 2 cups, you'll have to add water. Stir the rice into the saucepan with the mushrooms. Add the broth and salt and bring to a boil. 

Cover it and put it in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes or until the rice is completely cooked through. Stir in the carrots, peas, and pecans with a fork. Cover again and let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms, but I tried some anyway. I usually don't like them because of the texture, but in this recipe I found that the texture of the rice and the mushrooms kind of blended together and didn't bother me as much. It had a good flavor, and I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Chicken Succotash

I thought Chicken Succotash was going to be difficult to make, but once you separate the chicken, it's not so bad at all. Really, I don't even have room to complain about the chicken because Jess dismembered the one, and Rachel brought hers pre-cut into sections. I just stood there and watched. If you've never seen it happen before, imagine "The Walking Dead" with knife-wielding chickens. The Clucking Dead. (Someone, get on that. It's a cooking show waiting to happen.)

The Beekman recipe for this isn't available online, but I found a quick version of the vegetable succotash. The only difference I can tell is that the Beekmans have added chicken to their recipe to make it a full meal instead of just a side. 

I found the recipe for the vegetables here.

After the chicken has been taken apart, you brown it in the Dutch Oven.

Ingredients:

2 tbsps butter

1 small red bell pepper, chopped (We used green.)

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 small tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 c frozen corn, thawed

1 c frozen lima beans, thawed

1 c chicken broth (low sodium)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 chicken 3-5 lbs (We needed two chickens because we doubled the recipe.)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Our preparation is different than what the recipe linked to, mostly because of the chicken. So here is what we did below:

After you separate your chicken into 8 pieces, you brown it in about 2 tbsps olive oil in a 5 quart dutch oven.

Here is some already browned and some browning. 

Meanwhile, boil the tomatoes for about ten seconds until the skin looks like it's wiggling loose. Remove them and put them in ice cold water. This stops them from still cooking and getting all mushy.

Then you can peel the skins off easily. 

You have to cook the chicken for a while. Depending on the size of the piece, you want it about 3/4 of the way cooked through, because you're going to want it mostly cooked before you add the vegetables. 

Once it has hit that point, you add your vegetables and broth and let them cook until the vegetables are softer and the chicken is cooked all the way through.

I found that if you wind up eating all the chicken, the stuff left over can make a pretty good soup. If it thickens, just add more broth to it, and you're good to go.

It's a full on meal, easy to make and satisfying. 

Cheese Toast Topped Onion Soup

This is the last of the fall soups from the Beekman cookbook. After this, we'll only have five more fall recipes to go, and then this season will be done.

The recipe is featured online here.

   Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 pounds large yellow onions, halved, peeled, and thinly sliced (8 cups)
• 4 springs fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons sherry
• 6 cups chicken stock or reduced sodium canned broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 8 slices crusty country bread (For this, we used a baguette.)
• 1/3 pound Blaak cheese or Gruyere cheese (We used Gruyere.)

   Directions:

1. In a 5-quart Dutch oven, heat the oil and butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and thyme, cover,     and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 35 minutes.

2. Stir in the red wine and sherry, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Ad the stock, salt, and pepper to taste, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes to concentrate the flavors.

3. Preheat the broiler.

4. Divide the soup among 8 soup bowls. Cut each slice of bread in half and place on a baking sheet or broiler pan. Top with the cheese. Broil the cheese toasts 4 to 6 inches from the heat for 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Place 2 slices in each bowl of soup.

This soup is really easy to make, and if you like French Onion soup this one has a strong flavor. The bread soaks up the broth, and the combination of that and the cheese is delightful. Give it a shot. Tell me what you think. :}

Roasted Pork Loin with Gingerbread Stuffing

Here's the recipe I mentioned in my gingerbread post. As you can tell from the title, the gingerbread is going to be used as the stuffing for the pork loin.

I found the recipe online here.

Ingredients:

5 pound bone-in pork loin, hinged and butterflied (have your butcher do this for you)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon rubbed sage1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil1 medium onion, finely chopped1 apple, peeled and coarsely chopped3 cloves garlic, minced2 1/2 cups crumbled Orange Gingerbread1 large egg

Directions:

Ok, before I even start, I'm not going to even pretend I have the money for a bone-in pork loin or a butcher to hinge and butterfly for me. So, instead I bought a regular old pork loin and then after pretending I knew what "butterflied" meant, I cut it open like this:

Essentially, I cut it so that I can unfold it and roll it back up like a swiss cake roll. 

1. Open the pork like a book. Season the pork with 1 tsp of the salt, and the sage, rosemary, and pepper, rubbing it all over, on the inside and the outside. 

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

3. In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, apple, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is tender, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add the gingerbread, tossing to combine. Add the egg and remaining 1/2 tsp salt and mix again.

4. Pack the stuffing into the open pork. Roll the pork up toward the bone side, enclosing the stuffing. Tie the roast in several spots to keep it closed. Place in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 30 to 35 minutes longer or until an instant-read thermometer registers 145 degrees. (The temperature will rise as the pork sits.) Tent with foil and let stand for ten minutes before slicing. 

Variation: Make this with cornbread instead of the gingerbread stuffing. You'll need 2 1/2 cups crumbled. 

This was really good. The sweetness of the gingerbread worked with the juiciness of the pork. Plus, it was far easier to make than I had thought it would be given all the butterflying and hinging the recipe said would need to be done. (Granted, the butcher would do it for you, it still sounds like a heavy duty job.)

Also, I have a picture of it on a plate from the side view, but the plate is messy and my shadow is looming over it. Nobody wants to see it. But imagine a pork swiss cake roll with a gingerbread swirl, and you've got the point. 

Thankful

I feel like I'm a pretty appreciative person all year round. I like to take the time to enjoy the simple things, and I take pleasure in what I do, not only when I play, but when I work too. Regardless, it doesn't hurt to put it all down on a list on the day we're meant to seriously consider all that we're thankful for.

So here's a list in no particular order:

1. My family. There's countless reasons to be thankful for your family. For instance. today my mother took me out to lunch. We had pleasant conversations, and she complimented me multiple times. She even bought me apples for a pie I'm going to make tomorrow. (Yes it's from the cookbook, and yes it will be on the blog.)  My niece and nephew visited last weekend to show me her new uggz, and while they were here, my nephew busted out his impression of my cat. There's my sister who supported me during my entire young adult hood. And of course,there's my father who does so many little things to help out everyone simply because he can. (I'm hope that's a trait he passed on to me.)

2. My friends. I'm not an expert cook by any stretch of the word, and without them I'd be clueless about how to make some of these recipes. Of course, I'm not saying I'm only hang out with them to improve my cooking skills. They're a solid group of intelligent people with keen wit and good hearts. People like that are hard to come by, and yet all of mine are that way. I must be an awesome magnet.

3. My cat. He stares at me all the time. Flattering or creepy? You decide. (Sometimes he also licks my hair, which is nice? Gross?)

4. Jason Statham. I appreciate how he doesn't take himself too seriously and can consistently up the ante in his action scenes from movie to movie. I am working on my Statham impersonation, but without the chiseled jawline and shiny pate I fear it will never be good enough.

5. Cooking. I always thought of myself as an unlikely chef when I was younger, but I'm glad it's a hobby I picked up. There's something very therapeutic about laying out all the ingredients, cutting them neatly, cooking them just so, and then eating a delicious meal made by your own hands. It's also healthier for you too.

6. Cooking for other people. Sharing the experience only makes it better.

7. My job. This includes my students. They're a sweet bunch who make everything worth it. Seeing them grow has been more rewarding and has helped me grow. I'm pretty sure no other career path would have been as beneficial for me.

8. My blog and the people who read it. I think it's really cool that through a blog of me cooking stuff, I'm reaching people all over the world. I have readers in various countries, and I have over a thousand page views so far. This blows my mind completely.

9. Books. I highly value the power of the written word, from a simple blog post that shares an experience across the internet to a secret scribbled on the back of a postcard to a cherished novel by an author that travels over time to touch readers from generation to generation.

10. Music. I play guitar and ukulele, and I feel like I'm super cool once I learn a song. (Right now, I'm working on getting good at fingerstyle, and "Blackbird" by the Beatles.)

So there's ten things I'm thankful for. Today I'm off to a Thanksgiving meal with my family at a restaurant. Originally we'd been planning to eat together at my sister's house, but that fell through. I'll admit I'm a little bummed about this since I was looking forward to cooking things for the meal and taking pictures for the blog. But, it is also kind of nice to not have all the pressure of making things on your shoulders.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Orange Gingerbread and Bourbon Custard

This recipe is actually from the winter section of the Beekman cookbook, but the gingerbread is used in another recipe from the fall section. I figured it would be easier to kill two birds with one stone and make enough gingerbread for both desert and the recipe. So, I'll be showing you desert long before dinner, which was everyone's wish as a child.

I did find the recipe on the internet here.

Ingredients:


Gingerbread

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup orange juice

        *You do this by spooning the flour into a measuring cup and then leveling it off with the back of a knife.

       

Custard

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon bourbon

Directions:

Gingerbread:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, mustard powder, cloves, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together your orange juice, zest, molasses, and egg. 

4. Combine the two into a far less icky looking blend that looks like it'll actually turn into gingerbread. 

5. Pour the batter in the baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (When I baked it, I actually had to leave the cake in for longer since it was still sticky in the center. It took an extra 5-7 minutes until a toothpick came out clean.)

6. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely. (Either I turned my cake too early, or my cake was not meant to be flipped. Eventually, when I did flip it, it came out in two parts. This worked in my favor since the other recipe I needed it for needed crumbled gingerbread.)

Custard:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt until well combined. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium-low. Be careful to stir it while it heats to avoid the formation of skin on top .Whisk about half the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture; then whisk the yolk mixture into the milk in the saucepan. Cook, whisking constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the bourbon. (We used a maple whiskey.) Cool to room temperature, and then chill until ready to serve.

Drizzle that goodness on your gingerbread and enjoy.

Variations

• For a dairy-free cake, swap in a total of 8 tablespoons oil such as walnut, coconut, etc in place of the butter. You could do a combination of two nut oils, or perhaps some olive oil. The book suggests 3 tablespoons walnut oil and 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, but I don’t recommend using vegetable oil – best to avoid those trans fats.

• Make buttermilk gingerbread by swapping in buttermilk for the orange juice.

HAVE SOME ACTION SHOTS OF FURIOUS WHISKING:

Baked Apple Dumplings

I know I've been doing mostly Beekman recipes lately, but I'm hoping to not only get all of the fall recipes done before the season ends, but to get them up here as well.

This recipe is featured right on their website .

Ours came out looking absolutely nothing like theirs. They were still mighty tasty though. (In fact, can I say that I thought ours looked better? Well, I did.)

Ingredients:

4 apples of your choice, peeled (We used honeycrisp. I really like those apples.)
Basic Pie Crust

Possible Fillings:

Walnuts, Pecans, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Unsalted Butter, Caramel Candy Cubes, Raisins, Cranberries

For our version, we used cinnamon, brown sugar, and unsalted butter.

Instructions:

1. Prepare your crust and cut into squares that are 10" x 10".

2. Core the center of the apples.

3. Now, butter the bottoms and sides of a baking dish. Place your dough inside, and then place the apples on top. Working one dumpling at a time, place your pre-cut dough in the dish. In the center of the dough, place the apple. Fill the center of the apple with the fillings.

4. Bring all of the edges of the dough up to the center top of the apple, twist, and pat to close completely.

5. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.

6. Place into the oven at 450 degrees and bake until the crust is golden brown. (45 minutes)

Optional: Create an eggwash using 1 large beaten egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush the eggwash over the top of the pastry.

Note: We found that our apples were waaaaay too large for a measly 10" of dough, so we cut the inches in half across the width to make a shorter apple.

See, these are my little halved apples with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter inside. You can see that I tried shaving down the sides first, but that didn't work, so I had to halve them as well.

And here they are all wrapped up with their eggwash on.

This is our final product with a fancy little apple garnish that Jessica made out of leftover apples thinly sliced. 

I think I'm going to try a version without the crust where I just bake apples with good stuff inside to see what happens. When I do, I'll let you know how it goes. (Just in case you were wondering, these were super good.)

Basic Pie Crust

Being able to make a good pie crust is important if you ever want to make a good pie. This Beekman recipe for their basic pie crust is perfect and easy to make. It's from the Spring section of the cook book, but it's required for the next recipe to be featured on the blog and for another future recipe, so it was made early. I feel like it's a recipe I'm going to be using a few more times as I work my way through this cookbook though.

The recipe can be found here if you scroll down further on the page. It's also found here as part of a recipe for sour cherry pie.

Ingredients:

2c flour (spooned into the measuring cups - it makes a difference!)
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
3 to 4 tbsps ice water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender or two knives used scissor fashion, cut in the butter until pea-sized lumps remain. (I also precut the butter into small cubes before mixing it in to make the process easier.)

2. Gradually add the ice water until the dough begins to come together but doesn't clean the sides of the bowl. Add just enough of the ice water so the mixture holds together when pitched between two fingers. (I mixed it together with my hands.)

Cubed butter, it's super interesting.

And there's my pie dough. 

This recipe didn't yield as much as I expected it to, so if you want to use it for a larger pie, you should double the batch. Possibly even triple it.