Apple Pie

Usually I don't like pie (I'm not a fan of cooked fruit), but this apple pie was amazing. I think pies are definitely better when you make them yourself. Try it!

For the pastry, we used a 'Never Fail' pastry recipe:
(note: this recipe makes 1 6" pie, if you want to make a regular sized pie, I recommend doubling or tripling the entire recipe)

75 mL shortening
250 mL flour
3 mL salt
3 mL baking powder
25 mL beaten egg
3 mL vinegar
30 mL cold water (must be cold, so as to not activate the gluten in the flour as quickly)

1. Sift dry ingredients together.
2. Cut in shortening (with a pastry blender, a fork, or your fingers) to the size of small peas.
3. Combine egg, vinegar, and cold water. Add all at once to the dry ingredients.
4. Stir until a stiff dough is formed.
5. Form into a ball. Do not over handle, or the pastry will become tough.
6. Chill for an hour in the fridge.
7. Once chilled, divide dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out the two balls. The larger one should be larger than the pie plate, as it will line it. 
8. Place the large crust into the pie plate. There should be about 2 to 3 cm of excess crust hanging over the side of the pie plate.
9. The smaller dough circle will be the top to the pie. You can do the top however you like, we did lattice strips. If you are going to simply cover the pie, make sure you cut vents or a 'chimney' in the top crust, so steam can escape while cooking.
10. Use egg wash or milk on the edges of the crust, where the two crusts will meet.

We made our own filling:

5 mL | 1 tsp salt

2 apples

80 mL | 1/3 cup sugar

15 mL | 1 Tbsp cornstarch

125 mL | 1/2 cup cold water

5 mL | 1 tsp lemon juice

15 mL | 1 Tbsp margarine

0.5 mL | 1/8 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Fill a medium mixing bowl half-full with cold or ice-water. Dissolve the salt in the water.
3. Peel the apple and cut in quarters. Remove cores. Keep in salt water until all apples are finished to prevent browning.
4. In a separate small bowl, stir together sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the cold water and lemon juice. Stir until well combined.
5. Rinse salt water from apple quarters and slice fairly thinly (around 1 cm thick) into a medium pot. Add ALL of the sugar/cornstarch mixture to apples in a saucepan, making sure to scrape bowl clean with a rubber spatula. Add in the cinnamon.
6. Bring JUST to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 2-3 minutes until liquid thickens and apple slices are fork-tender. Don't stir too often, or the apples may break apart and you'll end up making apple sauce.
7. Place in the waiting crust and dot with margarine (drop bits of margarine over top of filling).
8. Place the top crust onto the pie. Make sure to egg-wash it frequently. Use the 'two thumb' technique to seal.
9. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden.

Place the filling into the crusts

All done!

This was a fabulous recipe, and I definitely will be making it again. Better than mac 'n cheese, for sure!

Peach Cobbler

I've never had peach cobbler before, and I had no idea how to make it. I was surprised to find it's a really easy recipe! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the recipe, but here's a link to a similar one. I'm not a big fan of cooked fruit, so it was a little hard for me to eat, but the biscuit was absolutely fabulous, and the peaches just added the extra sweetness and juice. Great for a family dessert on a summer Sunday! Personally, though, I'd rather have mac 'n cheese.

What your dough should look like

The sauce

Arrange the peaches in a casserole
dish and pour juice over top

Drop your dough by the spoon onto
the peaches

Your cobbler should look like this before
going into the oven.

Your end result should look like this

Biscuits should be golden and
the juice should be bubbling

Pizza Scone

This pizza scone was absolutely fabulous, especially the sauce. The caramelized onions added a tasty touch, and the sauce was phenomenal. I highly recommend this recipe! 

Ingredients
15 mL margarine
1/2 onion sliced
250 mL flour
7 mL baking powder
pinch of salt
30 mL olive oil or cooking oil
80 mL chicken broth or milk
50 mL Parmesan cheese
80 mL mozzarella cheese
slice of green pepper
slice of pepperoni

50 mL tomato sauce
2 mL oregano
basil and parsley
pinch of pepper
2 mL garlic powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease pizza pan and set aside.
2. Slice pepperoni and green pepper. Set aside.
3. PREPARE ONIONS: Melt 15 mL margarine and brown sugar in the skillet, Add onion. Reduce heat and cook, covered, 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Take off heat and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. MAKE A WELL.
5. In a small mixing bowl, combine olive oil and chicken broth. Add all at once to dry mixture. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.
6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Quickly knead dough by folding and pressing gently 5 or 6 times. Pace dough on a large ungreased baking sheet. Pat dough into a 6-inch circle. Bake for 5 minutes.
7. Prepare sauce and spread onto prebaked crust. Drain liquid from onions, then spread onions evenly over sauce. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake in the oven for 20 to 23 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm..

Stir everything into the sauce

Pat dough into a 6" circle

You can spread the toppings
thick or thin

Put all your toppings on

End product!

Doesn't it look delicious?

This was probably my favourite recipe, by far! The sauce was amazing and the caramelized onions were delicious. I'd take this pizza scone over mac 'n cheese any day.

Healthy Cookie Challenge: Peanutbutter Hazelnut cookies

This was a challenge within the class to bake the best tasting healthy cookie. Everyone was given the same recipe and had to alter it to be healthier, and judges came in to decide the best cookie. Our cookie placed third in the class! It's a very thin cookie, and it may look to be crunchy but it's soft and chewy, which I love. Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it:

Ingredients

75 mL peanutbutter

60 mL sugar

15 mL honey

75 mL brown sugar

1 egg

2 mL vanilla

125 mL flour

75 mL whole wheat flour

3 mL cinnamon

2 mL baking soda

1 mL salt

125 mL finely chopped hazelnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cream together peanutbutter, honey, and sugars.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together flours, cinnamon, baking soda, half the chopped hazelnuts, and salt.
5. Stir dry ingredients into creamed mixture.
6. Drop by spoon onto cookie sheet and sprinkle leftover hazelnuts on the tops.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool on a cooling rack.

Be generous with the hazelnuts

The batter looks very liquidy, but
don't be alarmed. 

These turned out really well, earning us third place! Definitely better (and healthier!) than mac 'n cheese.

Pizza

I had a craving for pizza one night, so I decided to make some. After scrambling around the kitchen to find all the necessary ingredients, I made some seriously good pizza.


1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 cup warm water

2.5 cups flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Do not stir. If mixed in with the water and sugar, the yeast will be no good. Wait until yeast becomes light and foamy, about ten minutes.
3. Stir in the flour, salt, and oil. Stir until smooth.
4. Knead dough for about a minute on a lightly floured surface. Shape it into a round and roll it with a rolling pin to about 1/3 inch thick. Fold up the edges slightly to form the crust edge.
5. Transfer onto a greased pizza pan and spread with desired pizza sauce and toppings.
6. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Knead the dough so it is firm

Roll to about 1/3 and inch thick

The crust should be golden when finished

I topped my pizza with cheese and 
sun dried tomatoes

This is a really good, really simple pizza recipe. Much better than mac 'n cheese!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

These were possibly the most delicious cookies I've ever baked. The chocolate and hazelnut complemented each other perfectly, like Nutella. They were a bit on the sweet side, but in moderation they were good. I highly suggest making them!

Here's how:

Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Note that the batter may look as if there isn't enough, but these cookies rise and spread like nobody's business.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease cookies sheets.
2. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into small bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture and beat well with mixer on low speed.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and half of the chopped hazelnuts with a wooden spoon.
6. Drop batter in teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets. Flatten each cookie with a wet fork and sprinkle remaining hazelnuts on top of the cookies.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

All the ingredients ready to go

Chop the hazelnuts finely

Step 6

Step 6

The cookies spread quite a bit, so drop them a fair amount apart.

What your inside should ideally look like

Cookies should be golden

These cookies were super delicious! Much better than mac 'n cheese!

Bombshell Brownies

These brownies were a disappointment. They didn't turn out very well, just a mushy mess, and they didn't taste as good as I thought. The batter was really good, though!

If you want to make them anyways, or maybe you just want to eat batter, here's how to make them!

Ingredients:
80 mL butter, melted
250 mL sugar 5 mL vanilla extract
1 egg
125 mL flour
80 mL cocoa powder
1 mL salt
60 mL chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a loaf pan with shortening, set aside.
3. Place butter in a custard cup and melt it in the microwave (about 35 seconds).
4. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in the egg with an electric mixer until thoroughly blended (about 3 minutes).
5. In a small bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, salt, and sifted flour. Gradually pour and mix this into the creamed mixture.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Spread the batter evenly.
8. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
9. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Step 4

Spread batter evenly in the greased pan

The brownies were really frustrating to make, they never seemed to cook. This was partly because our oven wasn't working properly, but even when we fixed that problem they still didn't cook very well. And they tasted bad too. I'd definitely pick mac 'n cheese over these brownies, any day.

Flood Cookies

These cookies are a classic sugar cookie. We used a flooding technique to ice them, and they turned out really well. Here's the recipe:

Cookie:
125 mL margarine
125 mL sugar
1 egg
3 mL vanilla
5 mL baking powder
350 mL flour
Icing:
25 mL light corn syrup
25 mL hot water
350 mL icing sugar

1. Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
2. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Combine flour and baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture with a wooden spoon.
4. Use a rolling pin to roll dough until 1/8 of an inch thick and cut with desired cookie cutters.
5.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 6-7 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Let cool on a cooling rack.
6. Combine ingredients for icing, adding just enough icing sugar until desired consistency. You can colour  your icing as you wish. Remove a small amount of icing and mix with more icing sugar in a custard cup to thicken.
7. Pipe thickened icing around the edge of the cookies. Use a small Ziploc bag with the corner clipped off for a piping bag. Let dry a few minutes.
8. "Flood" the cookies with the runny icing. Decorate as you wish, I used sprinkles to create designs.

Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick

Cut into desired shapes

Cook til edges golden

Bottoms should be no darker than this

Pipe the edges with the thick icing

Flood cookie with the thin icing

Let the icing dry

Decorate as you wish

These cookies were really fun to make and decorate, and they tasted good too. I'll definitely be making them again, because they're much better than mac 'n cheese!