Pi Day 3.14.15: Classic American Apple Pie

In honor of the most pi pie day for the next hundred years, I'm making pie! I don't cook many things that require measuring. But Saturday is a special day... at least by the American calendar and any other math geeks using the MM-DD-YY format!

For more options on some simpler crumbles, see the original post Thansgiving: Crust and Crumbles.

And, I had my daughter take a video of me creating the lattice work.

Food Processor Crust RECIPE:
Makes 5 single crusts (enough for two double crusts plus 'security'.)

1. Chop together in a food processor:
- 4.5 cups pastry flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.5 sticks of butter-flavored margarine

Add more flour if necessary to form a slightly crumbly mixture.

2. Mix with fork in a separate bowl or cup:
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 vodka (Inspired by America's test kitchen, made the dough so easy to work with!)

3. Slowly add liquid mixture to food processor,

4. Wrap dough in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate for at least half an hour (up to two days, or freeze for longer.)


Here is your NONrecipe filling:

1. Peel, core, and thinly slice 8-15 apples. Enough to fill your pie(s) in a heaping mound. I use a variety of apples - mostly green Granny Smiths, come pink crisps, all crunchy. Start with the green ones. Toss the red ones with a drop of lemon juice.

2. Season to taste: Mix all the sliced apples in a big zip-top bag or bowl with
 - brown sugar
 - cinnamon
 - nutmeg, prefferably fresh ground
 - butter or margarine
 - salt, ginger, allspice, and whatever else you want...
 - a little corn starch or flour depending on the amount of juice generated by the apples

Put it together:

Pre-heat oven to 425 F.

1. Oil and flour your pie pan(s).

2. Roll out 1/4 of the dough, I use a Silpat mat or canvas pastry cloth.

3. Gently transfer to the pan. Cut off excess, but leave about half an inch all the way around.

4. Fill with apple mixture in a big hill.

5. Cover with second crust. If your design does not have holes (like my lattice work demo), make slits for the steam to escape.

6. Bake 40-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender (stab them with a toothpick.)

Improvisational Flour-less Chocolate Cake

Before Pesach I made Brownies, but I overcooked them and forgot to add nuts. They were a bit disappointing.  This week I wanted something chocolaty, but more moist and less traditional. I whipped these up:

LOL: Prunes "without a nucleus"

• 2 small carrots, peeled
• 2 red apples, peeled
• 2 bags (400 grams/ 14 oz.) of pitted plums
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 c oil
• 1 cup potato starch
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 bags (400 grams) walnuts, chopped
• fresh ground cinnamon and nutmeg
• Salt

Bake at 350 F/170 C for about 20 minutes depending on ingredients and thickness.

I encourage you to experiment with leftovers to make your own cakes and brownies. 

Do you have leftover cooked sweet potato, charoset, or applesauce? Over-ripe bananas, peaches, or pears? Throw it in! Add finely ground nuts for body. (Feel free to add baking soda or baking powder.)

I especially love to cook with kids and give them the reins with what and how much to add.

Please comment and tell me about your own baking improvisations.

Too Easy Chocolate Chip Peach Cake

I don't bake much. It just doesn't get my creative juices flowing quite like stringing together a healthy, balanced, and economical meal that most of my family might eat. But when I ask a friend if there's something I can do to help, I mean it. And if the response is that I should bring cake... Well by golly, I'll bake a cake! Here's the thing, my one go-to easy cake is the Apple Sauce Cake recipe given to me by the same person to whose house I would be bringing the cake! 

Easy Arepas (Corn pancakes)

When I was growing up in South Florida, my family would go to Miami to see the Marlins play baseball. One of the highlights of the trip was the delicious, sweet, greasy, cheesy arepa I would usually order for dinner. I don't think this was the most authentic Venezuelan or Colombian arepa, but it was utterly delicious. Two sweet corn pancakes were fried on a griddle, with white Jack cheese melted in the middle. You eat it like a sandwich with a little cardboard holder. Imagine my surprise when I learned that every stadium and fairground in the United States does not host Arepa Queen stands!

I wanted my family to have a little taste of the pleasure that comes with this wonderful flavor combination, so I've been making my own wonderfully un-authentic arepas using an inexpensive sandwich maker. This could easily be made in a dorm or hotel room if you bring the ingredients. You can also serve it with salsa or guacamole on the side.

Very Easy Apple Sauce Cake

My husband's birthday is on Thursday, but we're expecting a crazy week, so we had a little surprise celebration today. I had just over an hour until he would be home, in which time I hoped to clean the whole house, start dinner, and bake a cake. All with four kids at home. Thankfully, I had the perfect cake recipe for the occasion! It's a recipe I posted previously, Leah's Easy Applesauce Cake, but with a few changes of my own (in bold).
      

   Ingredients

• 2 cups (260 grams) whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) demerara sugar
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 tsp cinnamon (I used freshly grated)
• pinch of fresh nutmeg
• 2 tsp aluminum-free Baking Powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (237 ml) olive oil
• 1 cup (237 ml) natural, unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 - 3/4 bag of chocolate chips (save some to put on top in the last 15 minutes of baking)

Mix all ingredients very well. Bake at 180C / 350F for about 45 minutes.

Instant Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cupcake-Muffins

If you're looking for healthy muffins try my popular carrot-zucchini muffins or the no sugar added variety.  The following "recipe" is a quick technique you can tweak to make lots of varieties: Peanut butter and jelly, white chocolate macadamia  nut, dulce de leche, carob or butterscotch chip... None of which are healthy, of course, but you can whip them up in a jiffy!  And, boy, are they good!  



1. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C.

2. Fold together:

• One box of pancake mix (whole wheat is fine)
• The specified amount of water
• About half a bag of chocolate chips (you can use more or even a different kind of chip)
• About 3 large spoonfuls of peanut butter

Do not over mix!

3. Spoon batter into a muffin tray to fill up each cup about halfway.

4. Bake about 10-12 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Lahuch - Yemenite Flat Bread - לחוח

Lahuch is a soft stretchy pan bread like a cross between a pancake and laffa bread (like giant pita without a pocket.) It has wonderful bubbly holes like a pancake, but is firm enough to be wrapped around fillings. I like to eat it plain and just tear off pieces to eat.

You can serve it warm with sweet spreads or savory toppings like tehina, tomatoes, and eggs. And it is easy to make because there is no kneading or rolling required like other breads or tortillas. It is traditionally "baked" over the fire in a heavy cast iron skillet, but if you don't have one, a non-stick pan on medium-low should work well.

I first tried Lahuch (lachuch or lahuh) when my friend Michal took me to the bazaar in Rosh HaAyin that is only open on Friday. Vendors are packed under the giant tents hocking cheap clothing, "chachkes," and food stuffs. (Pictures below.)  There was also a vendor selling fresh Yeminite baked goods like kubaneh, jachnun, lachuch, and malawach piled high with toppings to order. Michal got me instructions for Lahuh from her Yeminite friend.  I've been meaning to make it for over a year now, but just because I haven't gotten around to it doesn't mean you shouldn't get the recipe!

Dulce de Leche

from www.nrg.co.il

To celebrate the heroic deed of Yehudit, who intoxicated the general of the opposing army with cheese and wine before slicing off his head, dairy products are often eaten on Chanukah.  What better way is there to enjoy dairy than caramelized?  My dad's family spent a couple generations in Argentina, so our family was eating "Dulce de Leche" before Ben and Jerry put it in ice cream.  It is also a popular sufgania (donut) filling here in Israel.  In Hebrew it is called "ribat chalav," literally milk jam.

Here in Israel I buy it in a jar on the shelf with peanut butter and jam (though the two are not commonly eaten together.)  It is sold in original, chocolate, vanilla. creme, and coffee flavors.  But my family in the United States makes it from a can.  And it's EASY!

Shana Tova! - A sampling of my food prep

I wanted to wish you all a sweet, happy, healthy, successful, and peaceful new year.  Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, begins this evening.

Our family has been invited out for three meals.  I'm bringing some salads and dessert and keeping the rest of our meals simple.  We are even mixing it up with a couple dairy meals (blasphemous, I know). Tomorrow we are planning a cold meal with fancy cheese, smoked salmon, bagels, and fruits like persimmon and pomegranate.  Traditionally meat and hot foods are eaten on holidays, but with six meals, we think whatever is considered special is fair game for a holiday meal, and we love dairy!

While I'm sitting down for my little break, I thought I'm share a few other things I'm making.

- Cinnamon honey cookies with apple sauce and fresh vanilla - to go with a non-dairy frozen dessert I bought.  I had a tough time with the dough, so I put the whole lump on parchment paper, covered it in plastic wrap, and rolled it out.  No sticky mess on the table or rolling pin.  Then I baked it whole and used cookie cutters while it was still warm.  I would recommend this method if you have sharp cookie cutter (I didn't) and if you don't mind the leftover, though equally yummy, scraps.

- Quinoa tabbouleh - some for us and some for one of our hosts.

- Pasta salad.  I don't know what kind yet. Maybe Sun-dried Tomato Basil Pasta Salad.

- I also have Pre-mixed Bulgur Salad I can always make by adding hot water.

Zucchini Carrot Muffins - No Sugar Added

I just went to take pictures of my moist, delicious muffins, but they're all gone!  I usually make my muffins with some ground dates or prunes and some brown or white sugar, but this is the fist time I've attempted to make muffins with no sugar.  I don't know if these are technically diabetic approved, but you can surely eat them and feed them to your family with less guilt.  I am no expert, but my understanding is that the fiber in the fruits, vegetables, and whole wheat flour, as well as the beneficial effects of cinnamon, should slow the body's conversion of the ingredients into simple sugars (needing insulin) making them low-glycemic.  I welcome anyone who can comment on this.

Here's what you need to make about 2 dozen small/medium muffins:

3 zucchini - grated

3 carrots - grated

8-10 prunes - blended

8-10 dates - blended

2 or 3 eggs

1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil (or some combination with natural apple sauce)

2-3 Tbsp agave syrup (optional)

1/4 tsp vanilla or 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar

1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt (depending on your taste)
1 tsp cinnamon

1 teaspoon or 5 grams (1/2 packet) baking powder (I couldn't find baking soda, but you could use a combination.)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup raisens, more to taste

Tiramisu Cupcakes

My friend Yael Schuster, of Haifa, Israel, posted this mouthwatering photo on Facebook and I asked her to write a post about it.  Yael is clearly a natural blogger, but has her hands full with two beutiful boys.  She also just completed her PhD in Chemistry from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.  What caught my attention about this dessert, was the pairing of the ultra-trendy cupcake with the ever-classy tiramisu.  Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people and holiday traditions include eating dairy and staying up all night learning Torah.  Visit Yael's Sweet Shop on Facebook to see her beautiful confections or order treats!

Shavuot has got to be my favorite holiday. It's the one time I don't have to be ashamed of my intense relationship with butter and 38 % milkfat cream. Heck, it's even on sale! It's fun to teach the kids about something that doesn't involve plagues or fasting. I don't even mind the staying up all night- somebody else, of course. Not me- I stay home to "watch" the kiddies. BUT, I am sorry to say, I do not like cheesecake. I don't like the soft, soggy Israeli excuse for cream cheese. I don't like paying 60 shekels [$18 today] to make one cake with said pathetic cream cheese. I don't like making crumb crusts. I don't like carting around ten pounds (sorry, 4.5 kilos) of dessert in one pan. And I just don't like the taste of bland sugary cheese.

This year, when I was asked to bring dessert to a friend's house, I decided that the drown-yourself-in-dairy holiday needed to take a different approach. Tiramisu. In cupcake form. Genius.

Tehina Health Cookies

My friend, Tzippy, gave me the recipe for these delicious cookies.  She sent me the marvelous pictures below from the last time she made the cookies.  Tzippy notes that she always makes a double batch, so I assume that is what the pictures are showing.

Tehina is sesame paste most commonly used to make a mild or savory dip by the same name.  Make sure you buy pure sesame paste (there may be oil on top like natural peanut butter), and not the dip mixed with water, lemon, garlic, etc.  In the U.S you may need to look in the kosher, ethnic, or health food aisle.  Sesame paste is also used to make the dessert halva.  If you appreciate good halva, you will enjoy these cookies.

Passover Brownies (Gluten-free)

I like to make a variety of goodies before Passover begins: walnut brittle, meringues, chocolate nut meringue-type cookies, brownies, and sometimes ginger candy.  This year I got strep throat right before Pesach, and in the interest of simplicity I had my husband whip up two pans of these very easy brownies.  Based on the "Pesach Brownies" recipe on page 199 of the Spice and Spirit Kosher for Passover Cookbook.   Multiply by two for two 9"x13" pans - "half pans".

Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C.

Beat together:
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup potato starch

Optional, but highly recommended, add:
1 cup whole, chopped, or ground walnuts
 I like LOTS of nuts, and I add extra on top. 

Bake in a greased 9" by 13" pan, 30 minutes or until the batter is firm.

You may also like other Passover Ideas.

Apple Crisp - No sugar added

My son actually requested I make baked apples.  This was very easy and tasty.  You could even skip the topping for a simple weekday treat.

Core and slice apples.  Layer them in a dish with cinnamon and spices of your choice.  I like a little salt and fenugreek.

In a saucepan or in the microwave warm margarine, butter, and/or oil. Mix in oats, cinnamon, fenugreek, and (optional) agave syrup.

Spread over the top of the apples.

Bake until golden brown.

Happy 100th Post on Cooking Outside the Box!

Repeats Including Zucchini Muffins

I began writing this blog for myself.  I wanted to record what my family liked so I could make it again.  Today, I want to mention a couple things that I have been making again, and again, and again.

My kids don't care for soup.  But I love Roasted Butternut Squash soup so much, I've been making it almost every week.  I often add some beer or Irish stout.  It seems easier every time, and the peels taste great in soup stock.

I've also made whole wheat zucchini muffins several times.  My kids love eating them, and I love knowing they're healthier than pasta.

Last week my daughter was home with an ear infection.  I asked her if she wanted to make muffins.  "I can help, for real??  Not just watch? Really help!?" was her excited reply.

She did get to really help.  Its a lot easier to be patient with only one kid home.  She counted in the prunes,  sprinkled in the salt and cinnamon, added premeasured ingredients, and did some excellent mixing.

Below is the recipe I am currently using.  Makes 24 muffins. [UPDATE: Zucchini Carrot Muffins - No Sugar Added]

1. Grate 3 zucchini and 2-3 carrots.  Put in a large bowl.
   
2. Blend2 eggs, 1/2 cup olive oil, 8 prunes, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
   
3. Mix separately in a measuring cup:
   2 cups whole wheat four
   approx. 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
   About 3/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
   approx 1/4 teaspoon salt
   1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar (alternatively you could add vanilla extract straight to the set of ingredients in step #2.)
   1 cup raisins
   
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet by hand until the flour is just incorporated (don't blend smooth.)
   
5. Pour into greased muffin tins or a pan.  I use a soup ladle.  Silicon muffin tins don't need to be greased.  Stainless steel or aluminum do best when lightly greased and floured.
   
6. Bake at 350 F or 175 C for 14-25 minutes depending on the size of your muffins or loaf. 

Sweet and Sourdough Rolls

I tried to make bagels based on the Sourdough Oatmeal Bread recipe from Israeli Kitchen.  The dough fell apart in the boiling water, but I still got some very tasty rolls.  By substituting apple juice for water, I got a slightly sweeter dough, as well as what we call "mezonot rolls."  For observant Jews, that means instead of washing our hands in a ritual fashion and making the blessing on bread, then a full grace after meals, we say one blessing before eating the rolls and a short blessing afterward.  This can be preferable when you want a snack or when you have limited time, like at work.

Happy Birthday Dad!

In honor of my father's birthday, today, I'd like to share with you a very easy, delicious cake recipe my friend, Mazal, gave me from the Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim Sisterhood Cookbook.
 
Leah's Easy Applesauce Cake
         Ingredients

• 2 cups (256 grams) flour
• 2 cups (200 grams) sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking Powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (237 ml) oil
• 1 cup (237 ml) apple sauce (half a can)

Mix dry ingredients well. Add in the wet ones. Mix well; make sure there isn't dry flour at the bottom of the bowl. Bake at 180C / 350F for about 45 minutes.

Pictures of Onion Challah

   Tamar of Petach Tikva, Israel, recently sent me pictures of the Easy Awesome Onion Challah she made on two different occasions.  This is what she said:

Thank you so much for this recipe Yosefa! I've made it twice now...

Sourdough Brownie Bites with Rosewater

Today (Guest Worthy Wednesday) is a great day to mix up a batch of cookies and invite a friend over for tea.  These chocolate cake-like cookies are classy enough for adults, but will surely please any youngsters at the table.  A hint of rosewater* adds some whimsy and sophistication to this simple treat.

I'm particularly proud of this dessert because I had a certain taste and texture in mind, I measured and recorded what I did, and I succeeded in creating the cookie I set out to make!  I used my food processor; you can also mix by hand or use a stand mixer.  Here's what I did:

Adventures in Sourdough PLUS Blog Award

I'm starting a sourdough starter... or trying to.  I have some very sour smelling batter, but no bubbles.  I may try another batch at the same time using Professor Calvel's Instructions.  He seems to know his stuff.  If you try starting some sourdough now, we can make bread and cookies together!

NEXT-DAY UPDATE:  I have bubbles!  My starter doesn't stink anymore.  I might be ready to bake with it.  However, I feel an obligation to disclose that I cheated.  Yesterday I stopped feeding my starter and in the evening I added the tiniest pinch of dairy-free probiotics and about 6 grains of dry store-bought yeast.  I thought it might speed along the process of balancing the bacteria and the yeast, which is necessary to get past stinky sour and onto good beer sour.  Now I'm going to fold laundry while watching the sourdough episode of the Frugal Gourmet (In 3 parts on YouTube).  In part 3 he says "Talk to the dough!...  Grandma never needed to see a shrink ... Grandmas talked to their dough."


This week I was nominated for the Stylish Blogger Award by Healthy Eating for Ordinary People.  I am honored that my baby blog has been recognized as a happening spot in the Blogosphere!

So now it's my turn.  In order to accept this award I must: