Weekend Bake-a-thon

As predicted, I did a fair amount of baking this past weekend. Not as much as I'd originally planned (the chocolate chunk cookies did NOT get made as of yet), but a lot nonetheless.

First off, many thanks to my MOH, M, who provided us with a lovely Fresh Market gift card as part of our wedding gift. With said gift card, we purchased some loverly food items - a T-bone steak, fab sourdough bread, and some fancy schmancy desserts - a tiramisu and mahvelous chocolate cake. All items were delicious. As you can see in the photo, our lovely beef was served with loaded mashed potatoes (v. healthy) and spicy, shallot-y green beans. Washed down with more Zinfandel left over from the wedding. All on our lovely Waterford china with Waterford crystal with Waterford flatware and Henckel's steakknives. Only best in Lewis Center, baby. We're so ritzy, really.

This past weekend, I prepared an Apple Coffee Cake (thanks Emeril - your show may annoy me, but you and your staff certainly create some great recipes). I highly recommend this, although I thought the brown sugar glaze might be too much sugar, so I omitted it.

I also baked an apple pie. I grew up with fresh baked apple pies - that's how Dr. Jeff rolls down in the NC. I even made the crust. Pillsbury, schmillsbury (prepared dough works fine, I don't look down my nose at it TOO much).

I rely on the Barefoot Contessa's pie crust recipe (see Barefoot Contessa Family Style, my first BC book, by the way). To prepare said crust, cube 12 tbsp butter and place back in the refrigerator. Combine 3 c flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tbsp sugar. Cut the butter, along with 1/3 c chilled shortening, into the flour, until the butter/shortening are the size of peas. Add 8-12 tbsp of ice water until the dough starts to come together (in the BC recipe, she makes it in a food processor, and I think less water is needed that way, but I've not tried it). Press dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate. The recipe makes two crusts. Lay one crust in the bottom of the pie plate and use a fork to prick the crust to prevent bubbling.

For an apple filling, peel and slice thinly 6-8 Granny Smith apples. Only use Granny Smith. You will be severely punished for using any other apple. My only exception is if you use 1 or 2 other varieties of apple in the place of 1 or 2 GS apples. GS are the best. Do not fight me on this one. Combine apples in a large bowl with 1/3 c flour, 1/2 c sugar, and 2-3 tsp cinnamon. You can fancy it up with nutmeg, lemon juice, allspice, and other items, but I stick to the basics. Pour the apple mixture into the bottom crust. Dot with butter. Top with the top crust, crimping the edges, and making slits in the crust to allow steam to escape. Brush with egg wash (one egg mixed with 1 tbsp water). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 55-75 minutes until the filling is steaming and bubbling out of the slits. Allow to cool on a rack.

If you are crazy like me and R, you also make ice cream to go with it! Thank goodness we have an ice cream maker - otherwise, how would we make ourselves so fat?? Cream, milk, eggs, super-strong vanilla from Penzey's (thanks SS), and sugar combine to form a luscious frozen custard. Mmm.