Caramel Apple Lattice Pie

Sorry again for horrible photos, I got out that cheap 7 dollar thing again to take these... Can't wait till Logan's phone and therefore my camera is fixed ;)

Okay, so I tried my best. They are not the most elegant looking things, but I am proud. :) According to Logan "THIS TASTES AMAZING" . Todd liked it too. I thought it was good for a first try, I have ideas for next time.

So with those apples that were on sale, I wanted to make a pie. Buuutttttt, I didn't want to make any pie, I wanted to try to make a lattice pie. I think they look cooler. And I wanted it to have caramel in it, like the pies that we had at the bakery I worked at that I always wanted to try but never had the money to buy.

First thing first, I needed a recipe. I pulled out all of my recipe books, and found nothing for either, and only one fully covered apple pie and a few pie/pastry crust recipes. Did a few searches on allrecipes.com and I could not find what I wanted, even using the ingredient search. So I guess it is time for a wildly crazy Wing-it creation!

I found one for "Never-Fail Pastry Crust" I liked the look of in my FCCLA-HERO cook book from school (was a fundraiser) and this is the crust that has been used for years and years. However, it made 6 single pies or 3 double crusted pies, and I did not need that much! Heck I am lucky I had two tin pie pans from my mom! So I roughly estimated half of everything. Also, the recipe called for vinegar, something we don't have yet (its going on the list! I keep looking at it in the store and decide we don't have the money for it yet)

(THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I DID. STATING CHANGES I WOULD MAKE AT BOTTOM)

2 cups sifted flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar sifted together in large bowl. (Or mix in blender if don't have sifter hahaha) Cut in 3/4 cup lard or crisco with pastry knife (or two butter knifes hack hacking away till crumbly like meal)

In a separate small bowl, beat 1 egg (couldn't cut that in half) and 1/4 cup COLD water. Mix into dry mixture gently till balls up and then knead gently on lightly floured surface. Separate into 3 portions.

Roll out 2 on floured ice cream bucket lid with empty wine bottle, then place pie tin over, and flip pastry in. Press into sides evenly. Place in fridge. 

 Wash and cut up 3 large honeycrisp apples. An easy way to do this is to place stem down on your cutting board, and then get a small, sharp knife and cut in thin sections down. I tried to take a picture of this on the left, but the camera is 300 kb, not even 1 mega-pixel lol. Essentially just do really thin cuts all the way down for 360 degrees. keep the apple together until the end, and then the sections easily come apart like an orange! 

Then sprinkle the apples with about 3 tbs white sugar and 4 tbs brown  sugar and cover if possible to shake or stir it all up.

As evenly as possible lay out the thin apple slices on the crust. Then put back in the fridge until caramel sauce is done.


For that I took the rest of the bag of kraft caramels we had eaten some of (39 pieces left actually) and poured in just under 2/3 cup Dulce De Lechce International creamer, as I did not have half and half and did not want to open the new galleon of milk. Microwave for about 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Then drip and pour evenly over the apples.

Roll out the last of the pastry and cut into strips, lay in a criss cross pattern across the top of the pie and brush with a bit of the Dulce De Lechce. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower to 350 for about 40 minutes. 

 Let cool on cooling rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Serve by itself or with some vanilla ice cream and a bit of the left over caramel sauce! XD

WHAT I WOULD DO NEXT TIME: I would make the full six crusts, so they could be a bit thicker. I would use double crusts on the bottom of the pies and place a thin layer of butter in between to make it more like a flaky puff pastry. Also I want to dab the apples with some pats of butter. I want to learn how to make a better lattice, but other wise these were awesome!!!! Yay me! 

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (with a Twist)

Close Up Time!

"Oh no! She's at it again!" I wasn't satisfied with normal plain chocolate chip cookies. I wanted some that were really soft and gooey goodness. Well, after the pudding cake thing learned from a friend, why not try it again? I have had some great "Cake Box Cookies" courtesy of Jordon, and have learned that cookies and cakes are quite similar, actually cookies were invented because of cakes. I don't remember exactly where I read it, so if someone wants to claim this information I will give credit. (I think it was from one of my plethora of cook books)

If I recall correctly, a smaller cake was baked besides fancy wedding cakes so that they could be tested for being done without cutting into the actual cake to be used for a ceremony. This stemmed from a time of ovens without temperature gauges or clocks/timers. Eventually, people decided that they liked the little cakes as much as the large ones, and now we bake the small cookies on their own instead of with the cake.

Anyways, I have tried this recipe and it is "fantastic!" as one of my favorite doctors would say. Again these measurements are somewhat estimated, I spilt a bit extra of a lot of things in this one, good thing cooking isn't an exact science! (makes about 6 dozen)

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (unsalted is sooo much  better, but I guess you could use normal, though they cost the same) Please soften before hand, works much much better. One of my sticks was frozen = not so easy.

Cut in 1 1/2 packed cup brown sugar and about 1/2  cup white sugar. (brown gives the cookies color, white the texture I think)

Then mix in 4 eggs and 2 teaspoons of Vanilla (though I must admit my vanilla was 2 teaspoons plus a dollop lol). That plus flour gives you a "normal" dough recipe, but I threw in a large box of instant vanilla pudding mix.

Mix together thoroughly, and slowly add 4 1/2 cups of flour, sifted with  2 teaspoons baking soda. It takes a lot of work getting all the flour incorporated, but they turn out ohhhh so good!

That can all be done with a mixer if you have one strong enough (I don't) but add your bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips by hand, so they don't chip or break up. I also threw in the last fourth of a bag of white chocolate morsels left over from the Delux Carrot Cake Recipe.

When it comes to cookies, there are two things I love: scoops and baking stones. If you don't have them that is okay but they make life so much easier. Scoops make the cookies even, so you don't have a huge under cooked and tiny crisp cookie in the same batch. Baking stones help the heat spread evenly, making more uniform and perfectly done cookies and pizzas. I love it and if my mom doesn't let me take hers I will probably cry and convince Logan to buy me one off ebay.

Anyways, put small equal amounts of dough on your cooking tray and place in 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. NO MORE. They will burn and be hard and crispy if it is anything more than 12 minutes. I don't care if they don't look golden, they will be done perfectly I promise you, please don't burn them you want to keep them soft.

Let sit for atleast 5-10 minutes cooling on the stone before transferring to cool on borwn paper bag, paper towels, or paper plates, anything to help wick away excess oil while they cool completely. (or at-least cool enough to handle and eat while warn with milk! I was worried there wouldn't be any left the way my mom was going at 'em!)




Enjoy! If any survive, store in an airtight container with a piece of bread to keep soft.

Cookies and Milk!