Apple Crisp - in an Instant (Pot)

Today is Fat Tuesday, a pre-Lent day to feast on foods containing meat, eggs, milk and cheese. In France this became know as Mardi Gras (meaning Fat Tuesday), when people used up their supplies of these ingredients preparing for the fasting during Lent when simpler foods were eaten.
But while many were eating their traditional pancakes, we had Apple Crisp, a food using few of these ingredients. In fact, fruit crisps were originated during World War Ii when foods such as butter, sugar, and flour were rationed and hard to get.  The ingredients are mixed together to resemble breadcrumbs and taste like pie crust, but with fewer of the scarce ingredients.
I'm still enjoying finding ways to use my Electric Pressure Cooker, and this recipe was easy and quick in the InstaPot.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

5 medium sized apples, peeled and chopped into chunks

2 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

½ cup water

1 Tbsp. maple syrup

4 Tbsp. butter

¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

¼ cup flour

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp. salt

 

apples and spices in the PC

The butter + oats topping ready to go over apples

Directions:

Place apples on the bottom of your pressure cooker pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Top with water and maple syrup.

Melt butter. In a small bowl, mix together melted butter, oats, flour, brown sugar and salt. Drop by spoonfuls on top of the apples.

Secure the lid on the pressure cooker. Use the manual setting, and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.

Use a natural release. Let set for a few minutes, then sauce will thicken.

Serve warm and maybe with vanilla ice cream (or whipped cream).

Servings: 3-4

Cherry Coffee Cake - revised

I'm still doing cherry recipes. One of my favorite flavors! Coffee time at church was a time to serve coffee cake, of course. And another time to try a new cherry recipe. This one sounded good, but unusual. It used a cake mix as the main ingredient, but also had yeast in the recipe! It was similar to others recipes I've used with a crumb topping of cake mix with cold butter cut into it.
Usually I can tell by reading a new recipe how it will turn out. The original of this one had me stumped however. Yeast in a cake mix? But I was intrigued enough to try. After the first attempt, I was pleased with the cake part (with yeast), but not with the topping. The dry cake mix on top was still powdery dry and looked unappetizing after baking. So, how to adapt the recipe to make another, and how to savage the first attempt?
The recipe below is my adaptation. I reduced the amount of dry mix that is reserved for the topping and mixed it with melted butter. The original recipe directions were to cut cold butter into the dry mix, this left a lot of dry mix still dry. I also substituted milk for water (and increased the amount since there was more cake mix in the batter now).

CHERRY COFFEE CAKE

1 package (18 ¼ oz.) yellow cake mix, divided

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 package (¼ oz.) active dry yeast

¾  cup warm milk (120°-130°)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling

5 Tbs. butter, melted

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1-2 tablespoons milk or flavored coffee creamer

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups dry cake mix, flour, yeast and milk until smooth. Stir in eggs until blended. Transfer to a greased 13-in x 9-in. baking dish. Carefully spoon pie filling over top.

Stir remaining (1 ½ cup) cake mix and melted butter until blended. Drop by spoonfuls over filling. Bake at 350 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over coffee cake.

Here are the two pans after baking. On the left is the original recipe, still with lots of dry cake mix on the top. This is after I scooped most of it off and mixed it with melted butter. 

On the right my adapted recipe, with spoonfuls of cake mix moistened with melted butter over the top. 

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So, to brown the original recipe pan and make it more attractive, I put it under the broiler - for about 1 minute too long! Watch it carefully!

I'll keep the adapted recipe for another coffee cake time. I think it would be good with other pie fillings also - blueberry, apple, and other fruits. 

Its Still Cherry Month

Even though Valentines Day is past, I think it is still Cherry Month! Those red, delicious fruits can be enjoyed anytime, but in February I think of Presidents' Day, Valentines Day, and baking pies and coffeecakes. February is actually declared National Cherry Month and also celebrates National Cherry Blossom Festival which commemorates the 3000 cherry trees from the people of Japan to the people of the United States. I've never been in Washington D.C. to see the 3000 cherry trees in bloom, but I'm sure it is a beautiful sight.  

My folks had a cherry tree, but as with many fruit trees in our part of Kansas, there were more no-fruit years than years we had cherries. I remember going back to the home place one year and picking cherries. After several hours of picking I had a medium sized bowl with enough cherries for one pie! If you want to grow cherries well, you should live in Michigan. 75% of the tart cherries produced in the United States are grown in Michigan. 70 % of all the cherries, both sweet and tart, produced in the U.S. come from four states - Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. Did you notice none of those states have our hot Kansas summers or perhaps our unpredictable springs with yo-yo weather? 

An interesting fact I found: At one time it was illegal to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas!

The newest recipe I tried combines many of my favorites: yeast bread, chocolate, and cherries. I served it at our Morning Circle UMW this morning and it will become a repeat recipe. The dough is soft and sticky so I was glad it didn't need to be kneaded by hand, but is kneaded in the mixer with the dough hook. After rolling it out, cut into halves and cut each half into 18 pieces to roll into dough balls. It was surprising how easy this went together. I did find that it needed more baking time, about 50 minutes instead of 30-35. Check the internal temperature with a food thermometer to be sure of doneness, it should be 195-210 degrees for yeast breads.

Chocolate Cherry Pull Apart Bread

Ingredinets:

2 ¼ tsp (one package, ¼ oz) yeast (Red Star Platinum)

¾ cup warm milk (110-115 degrees)

¼ cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 tsp sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup sugar

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp salt

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

4 oz chopped dark chocolate (I used Hersey’s Dark Chocolate Chips)

Instructions

Combine milk, water and 1 teaspoon sugar in a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup. Sprinkle with yeast, Stir until fully dissolved. Let sit for about 10 minutes until it begins to foam.

Using a stand mixer fitted with flat paddle attachment, pour water/yeast mixture into mixing bowl. Add egg, butter and ¼ cup sugar. Mix on medium speed just until combined, about 1 minute. Add 3 cups all-purpose flour. Mix until fully combined. Scrape down sides of bowl. Switch to dough hook. Knead on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Add in additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary until dough comes together. Dough should stick to bottom of bowl but mostly clear the sides. Dough will be slightly sticky and soft.

Using a spatula scrape dough into a greased bowl. Turn once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour or until doubled.

Meanwhile grease a bundt pan with baking spray . Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Press dough down gently. On a floured surface roll dough into a 20x12-inch rectangle. Cut dough in half. Cut each half into approximately 18 equal pieces. You will have a total of 36 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball using the palms of your hand. Layer half of the dough balls evenly in the bottom of the pan. Top with half of cherry pie filling. Sprinkle with half of chocolate chunks. Repeat by layering half of dough balls, remaining cherry pie filling and finish with chocolate chunks. Bake 30-35 minutes (or longer) until puffed and golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Invert pan onto a large pate. Add another large plate on top. Invert back to have cherry and chocolate facing up. Allow to cool for another 15 minutes before serving.

First layer of dough balls + cherry pie filling + chocolate 

Second layer - ready to bake

Out of the oven

Flipped to cool

Pull apart or slice to serve

This is all thats left at the end of the day!

February is Cherry Pie Month

With Presidents' Day (remember George Washington and the cherry tree story?), Valentine's Day, and the gloom of winter, February is a perfect month for Cherry Pie. February 20 is even denoted as National Cherry Pie Day. We recently enjoyed a pie from frozen cherries. I finally feel like I've got the right recipes for both the pie filling and the crust! The bad news is that was the last of my frozen cherries! I'll be working on another filling next.
One of my 'retirement' goals is to learn to make a good pie crust. This one seems like the best I've found. I was able to get it blended together, chilled and rolled out without too many problems and there was enough crust for my favorite pie pan which is large.

CHERRY PIE

4 cups fresh or frozen tart cherries

1 – 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

your favorite pie crust for 2 crust pie

1 ½ tablespoons butter, to dot

1 tablespoon granulated sugar, to sprinkle

Directions:

Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over heat. Cover. After the cherries lose considerable juice, which may take a few minutes remove from heat. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Ad almond extract if desired, and mix. Return the mixture to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool. If the filling is too thick, add a little water; to thin, add more cornstarch.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare the crust. Divide in half. Roll out each piece large enough to fit into an 8 – 9-inch pan. Pour cooled cherry mixture into the crust. Dot with butter. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Place top crust on and flute the edge of the pie. Make a slit in the middle of the crust for steam to escape. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 50 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool.

 

Crust

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold butter

½ cup shortening

¼ cup cold water

3 Tablespoons sour cream

1 egg

Cut together the flour, salt, butter, and shortening until pea-sized chunks.

Whisk the wet ingredients together and drizzle over the dry mixture. Toss with a fork until lightly mixed. Divide into 2 discs and chill for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to use, roll out to desired size.