And to go with my tips, here’s my recipe for a delicious, home-made apple pie. 

Pastry Crust

For a double-crust pie

• 2 cups/250 grams sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2/3 cup/151 grams butter, frozen
• 5-7 tablespoons ice cold water + 2 teaspoons vinegar

Sift together flour, salt and sugar.  Cut the butter into cubes and toss it with the flour to get it coated. Pour mixtures out onto a clean surface and use a rolling pin to roll the butter into the flour.   Continue until butter is incorporated as thin sheets (this makes the crust flaky).  Add water/vinegar to the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time until it forms a dough (shouldn’t be sticky).  Divide into two balls and refridgerate for one hour.  

Make apple mixture while waiting.

Apple pie

• 6-8 tart apples, pared, cored and thinly sliced (6 cups)
• 3/4-1 cup/150-200 grams sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons/28 grams butter

Combine sugar, flour and spices; mix with apples. Let rest so any excess juice comes out of apple slices.  Spoon just the apples into the pie.

Remove from fridge and roll out into circles the top and bottom; cut steam holes into the top crust.  Line the bottom pastry in a pre-buttered pie pan making sure there are no holes.  Sprinkle graham cracker or cookie crumbs on the bottom of the dough.  Pour apple mixture (or other fruit mix) in before laying on the top crust. Crimp the sides together making sure to create a good seal so the juices don’t burst out.  Put pie in fridge to rest for one hour.

Heat oven to 450F/232C/Gas Mark 8.  When ready put pie in the oven and immediately turn it down to 400F/204C/Gas Mark 6.  Start the pie out on the bottom of the oven and half way through move it to a middle rack, rotating it halfway.  If the top is browning too quickly cover it with foil remembering to cut holes in the foil to let out steam. Remove after 50 minutes, let it cool completely and then enjoy!

Because I love Phil, and because he helped me peel, chop, mash and strain five pounds of apples over the weekend, I’m making his favourite cake: applesauce cake (recipe and photo by Smitten Kitchen).  It is all the things I love about fall in one delicious dessert.

For cake
2 cups (8 3/4 ounces or 250 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt
3/4 teaspoon (2 grams) cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (7 3/4 ounces or 218 grams) packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (about 13 ounces or 365 grams) unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup (about 1 3/4 ounces or 50 grams) walnuts (optional), toasted, cooled, and chopped

For frosting
5 ounces (142 grams) cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces or 42 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (4 ounces or 120 grams) confectioners sugar
1/2 (1 teaspoon) teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan. I had no trouble getting my cake out of a nonstick pan by just buttering it, but if you don’t have a nonstick cake pan or are a little nervous, line the bottom with parchment paper and butter that too.

Make cake: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts (if using). The batter will look a little curdly and uneven but don’t worry, it will all bake up perfectly in the end.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. You can speed this up, as I always do, in the fridge.

Make frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.

Do ahead: We were impressed with how well this cake kept for three days but were unable to “research” if it lasted longer. Keep frosted cake in the fridge. If you’d like to bake the cake further in advance, I’d wrap it well and freeze it until the day you need it. Leave it out on the counter to defrost and frost it up to a day in advance.

Bagels, jam & moving

It’s Sunday morning and I am currently feasting on my hard work from yesterday: a homemade bagel topped with homemade jam.  If only every morning could start this deliciously.  

Making bagels was not nearly as hard as I imagined.  In fact, if you’ve ever made a yeast bread, it was no more complicated than that.  The only additional step is parboiling the bagels before you bake, which means that they’re cooked and ready to eat in 15 minutes!  And nothing tops eating a piping hot bagel out of the oven.  

Then, because on a whim I bought 1600 grams of strawberries on Friday (half-price in-season British strawberries - how could I resist?), I made two more things: roasted strawberries and jam. The jam is good, but I must say the roasted strawberries are divine.  Simple and delicious and I will be feasting on them later tonight over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Today instead of making weird and wonderful things in my kitchen I will be bent over scrubbing this house down in preparation of our move this Tuesday. Still have mixed emotions about this move; when I told coworkers where the new digs were, they described Arborfield as ‘a place in-between the city and the countryside, so it’s kind of like on the fringe of both without being either.’  So I’m moving to the in-between…did I really live in New York city just a little over a year ago?

(image and recipe from 101Cookbooks.com)

These are seriously the best peanut butter cookies in my humble opinon.  They’re easy to adapt with whatever sweeteners or peanut butter you have on hand, and can go from start to in my mouth in 20 minutes.  

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, or unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup organic, chunky natural peanut butter
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Place racks in the top third.

In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. in a separate larger bowl combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, olive oil, and vanilla. Stir until combined. Pour the flour mixture over the peanut butter mixture and stir until barely combined - still a bit dusty looking. Let sit for five minutes, give one more quick stir, just a stroke or two. Now drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Press down on each one gently with the back of a fork. It’s a loose batter, so if you’re set on doing criss-crosses, go ahead and chill the batter for an hour or so before this step. Bake for 10, maybe 11 minutes - but don’t over bake or they will be dry. Let cool five minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

Make 2 - 3 dozen cookies. 

The UK does not do crackers. They do savoury biscuits, they do oat and wheat cakes, but they don’t do crackers.  When I was studying here I found this horribly hard to cope with as I CONSTANTLY snacked on crackers, particularly Wheat Thins.  Moving here permanently meant that I had to just give up this (probably unhealthy) habit.  Until now!  Yesterday I discovered a recipe for homemade wheat thins, and about 30 minutes after getting home I had a batch cooling from the oven.  They are incredibly fast and easy to make, healthy and delicious. I HIGHLY recommend making your own, even if you can buy them from the grocery store.

YIELD: About 65-70 crackers

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• Additional salt for topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400F/205C
2. TO MAKE THE DOUGH: Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and paprika) in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers, a pastry blender or a food processor. Combine the water and vanilla, and add to the flour mixture, mixing until smooth. 
3. TO ROLL AND CUT THE DOUGH: Divide the dough into 4 pieces; keep the other pieces covered while you work with one at a time. Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin and roll the piece of dough into a large rectangle. Flip the dough frequently to keep it from sticking, but don’t use too much flour or it will dry out. Keep rolling until the dough is as thin as you can get it without tearing, at least 1/16 inch thick. Trim the dough to even the edges and use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the piece into squares.
4. Transfer the squares to a prepared baking sheet; you can crowd them together, as they don’t expand while baking. Sprinkle the squares lightly with salt, if desired. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. 
5. TO BAKE THE CRACKERS: Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating half-way through the baking time. Remove the crackers from the oven and cool completely. These crackers will stay crisp for several days, but are best stored in airtight containers.

From The Fresh Loaf