Apple Pie...a bit late

Hi All,

I was able to get the apple pie made. Pictures coming soon! I used the pillsbury crust, but at some point this winter, I am sure I will try Agnes' crust. I always thought pies were harder to make... but this one was easy as... pie. The most time consuming part was cutting up all the apples into those little pieces. They should make an apple corer that does that for you. Husband and I both really liked the pie and ate it with abandon in place of a nutritious breakfast. But really, it's apples, how bad can it be for you? My Mom tried the pie and she enjoyed enough to put me in charge of apple pie for next week's Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks Mom.



Lately, I've been on a healthy banana bread kick - a recipe I found on the web that I've been making once or twice a month depending on the availability of brown bananas in our house. I made the bread for the wedding reception / brunch too. I'll post the recipe for that after I've completed November's baking challenge!



Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Feel free to take pictures of anything you make over the holidays and post here. I am hoping we'll get a roll out cookie recipe for December... Khabab, I am counting on you! :) I suppose that regardless of if it's fruitcake or cookies, we'll all be busy baking in December. So even if you bake something in addition to Khabab's December Recipe, why don't you post it here so we can all see it.

Happy Baking!
mrs. curlyhairedmegan

Khabab's Writeup

Dear Readers,

The Black Bottomed Banana Bars (BBBB for short) were an instant hit. A survey of a bunch of people (8, to be exact) came out with great responses. Unanimously, everyone agreed that these BBBBs had the right texture, flavor, banana/chocolate combo, sweetness and was perfect in moisture.

I made the BBBBs with two variations. Instead of 1 cup confectioner's sugar, I used 3/4 cup regular sugar and 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar. I don't know if this made a difference but I basically did it because I didn't have enough confectioner's sugar on hand.

I also had some slivered almonds on hand, which I used to sprinkle on the top instead of the chopped pecans.

Lastly, I put the cake in the oven for 25 minutes, but it still had a long ways to go. I had to put it in for about an additional 20 minutes before the cake tester came out clean. As a result, the top got a little "tan".

If you haven't yet made this recipe, I would highly recommend coating the baking dish with butter and dusting it with flour or something like that to avoid it from sticking.

I didn't have access to my co-worker's digital camera, so these are the best pictures I have. They are from my cell phone camera.

Here are some testimonials from the crowd:

Jesse: It was perfect

Rachael: Very Good...[in terms of additional complimentary ingredients] shredded almonds cooked in the bars

Lisa: Leave out the shredded almonds

Jenn: loved the texture [and] the fact that it wasn't too sweet

Cesar: Exceptional...Pretty much everything taste good

Greg: Maybe even sprinkle some powdered sugar on top

Jennifer: add a little more chocolate chip. Gave it a nice kick

Ramon: Very good. Got Milk?

So there you have it, dear readers. This recipe is definitely a keeper. It's different and it gives dessert lovers another twist to keep them coming back!

Until next time,

Khabab

Recap of My Apple Pie(s)

As mentioned in my last post, I made this apple pie twice - once just for myself, and once for dinner guests. Both times I used the same pie crust recipe, one using Crisco and butter (I was going to try Karen's suggested recipe, but had a bunch of Crisco I needed to get rid of!). The crust was excellent - only called for a bit of sugar, but this made a good base for a fruit pie.

The first time I made one batch of crust, which was interestingly only enough for the bottom layer. By the time I realized that, however, I wasn't about to devote another 20 minutes of crust-making and just made do with what I had. Not too bad! The crust was on the thinner side, especially on top, but that just improved the apple-to-crust ratio. The only potential problem I saw was that some of the filling seeped out on one side. Fortunately, this did not affect the taste!

Pie #1 included a mix of Macoun, Empire, and Cortland apples - very nice mix.

Pie Numero Uno



The second time, I remembered to double the crust recipe. This not only resulted in an adequate amount of crust, but enough extra to get a bit creative with embellishments. Since this was a pie I was sharing with friends, I wanted to make it look "pretty." This pie used a mix of Northern Spy, Cortland, and Empire apples. I must confess I was pretty excited about the Northern Spies, considering everything I'd read about them being the best pie apples and also fairly elusive. Luckily, I went apple picking three - yep, count 'em, three! - times this fall, and on the last trip I found a row of Northern Spy trees and filled half my bag.

Anyhow... here's Pie Numero Dos

November Recipe!

This is actually a recipe my mom gave me :) These bars are extremely good and I can't wait to try making them on my own! They're also quite good with a side of vanilla ice cream.

Black-Bottomed Banana Bars
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
1 and 1/2 cups gluten-free flour mix (I'll be using 3 parts rice flour and 1 part tapioca flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
chopped pecans, nuts (optional)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla extract; beat until thoroughly combined. Blend in the bananas.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Divide the batter in half. Add cocoa to half (add chocolate chips if you're using them) and spread this mix into a greased 13x9 baking pan. Spoon the remaining batter on top (add nuts if you're using them) and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Yields 2.5-3 dozen bars.