Dutch Apple Pie

 

Yeah, it's amazing.

For Thanksgiving dinner the only thing I had to provide was the creamed corn and the pies!  I made a pecan pie and decided to make two apple pies.  My friend Ann brought a Dutch Apple pie for our book club.  It was phenomenal so I asked her to share the recipe with me and I'm so glad she did!  It was well received even though we normally have a regular pie with a top crust instead of the crumb topping and changes to the Thanksgiving traditions don't always go over well!

Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 t sugar
1 t salt
1/2 cup oil
2 T cold milk
Put all the dry ingredients in a pie plate.  Whip oil and milk together with a fork.
Pour liquid mixture into flour mixture and mix with fork until combined.
Press firmly with fingers to bottom and sides of plate.

Filling
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
dash of salt
8 cups thinly sliced and pared tart apples (roughly 3 lbs)
Mix it all together in a large bowl.  Pour into crust.  It will be pretty mounded but will cook down.

Topping
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
Cut flour, butter and sugar together in a small bowl.
Sprinkle on topping and press lightly so it sticks to the apples.

Place pie on a baking sheet so it won't overflow onto the oven.  Bake at 425 for 50 minutes.  Cover top with foil for the last 10 minutes if it's browning too quickly (which I should have done).
Serve warm!

"Scrambled Egg Bake"

This casserole was also from the Lake City CRC cookbook.  It's from our good friend Carol Lambert.  She's used to feeding her husband and three hungry sons so this was bound to be a hit and it sure was!  It was the first casserole gone this morning!

Ingredients
4 cups hashbrowns or cubed potatoes
12 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 lb bacon or sausage, fried and crumbled
1/2 can of cream of chicken soup
1/4 can of milk
1/2 lb. sliced Velveeta cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Put potatoes in greased 9x13 pan.
In a large skillet, scramble eggs in butter and milk.  Do not overcook.  Pour egg mixture over potatoes.
Place meat on top of eggs.
Mix soup and milk and pour on top of casserole then top with sliced cheese.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Note:  This can be made ahead of time and refrigerate overnight before baking.

"Brunch Egg Casserole"

Last year twenty five people cane to breakfast after the "STROnGBOLI"  football game so I thought I should make four egg bakes to go along with the two coffee cakes.  It's a good thing because we had over 40 people eat this morning!  Just to give variety I made more than one kind of egg casserole and they all seemed to go over very well!  This one is also quite good and easy to make.  It's also taken from the Lake City CRC's cookbook and was contributed by my friend Ellie Poll.

Ingredients
10 slices bread
1 lb meat (bacon, ham or sausage)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can mushrooms drained
2 tsp. dried onion flakes
12 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut crusts from bread and cut into cubes. 
Layer, in 9x13 pan, bread, meat, cheese, mushrooms and onion flakes.
In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.  Pour over bread and meat mixture.
Refrigerate for 8-12 hours. 
Bake for 50-60 minutes and let sit 10 minutes before serving.

"Breakfast Casserole"

Here at Messiah CRC there is a youth group tradition/ministry that once a week during the school year the leaders make breakfast for the youth.  It's EARLY- before school and the leaders can often come before they head to work.  It's a good time of fellowship and it's fun for the youth to be served (literally and figuratively) by the leaders.  The last two year breakfast has been on Thursdays which works great because another tradition is to eat breakfast together on Thanksgiving after the annual council/youth football game.  One of the dishes I often make is this breakfast casserole that was gleaned from the Lake City CRC cookbook (originally from my friend Alisha Winkle).  It's a hit normally on a Thursday morning so I decided to make it again for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients
1 lb bacon cooked
1 (4 oz) can of mushrooms
1 cup Bisquick
6-8 eggs
2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.  Grease 9x13 pan.
Sprinkle bacon and mushrooms on bottom of pan.
In a large bowl mix Bisquick, eggs, milk, salt and pepper.
Pour slowly into pan.  Sprinkle on cheese.
Bake for 40 minutes.

Note: You can substitute bacon for sausage or ham.
Mushrooms taste great but are optional.
You can make this and refrigerate it overnight then bake it in the morning.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

For the Thanksgiving breakfast tomorrow I decided to not shy away completely from cliche fall flavors and do one quick bread recipe using pumpkin.  The only logical choice was to use my mom's (originally from Betty Crocker) recipe that I have loved since I was a kid.  I'm making muffins so if the guys want to run home to shower between the football game and the church service yet live farther away they can still come and grab something to go.


Ingredients
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup oil 
1cup pumpkin 
4 cups of flour
2/3 cup sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 
6 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 bag chocolate chips


Directions
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix wet ingredients. 
Mix dry ingredients separately.
Add dry into wet until just moist.
Add chocolate chips.
Bake for 20 min.


Note:  I had enough batter left over to make a small loaf of pumpkin bread!  I just left it in about 10 minutes longer.

Coffee Cake

This coffee cake is a specialty of my dear friend Nancy.  When she was head chef on our mission trip she made this recipe and kids "who don't like coffee" tried it and liked it (of course after being persuaded that it didn't taste like coffee-you ate it with coffee)!  This year's annual football game, between the council and youth group, is tomorrow morning and once again I'm making breakfast for everyone.  This recipe is perfect because it can be made ahead of time and then just warmed the morning of!  The recipe is also deceptively simple and uses stuff you most likely have in the house already!

Ingredients!

 

 

Finished product!

Ingredients
1 yellow cake mix
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water

Filling
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13.
Mix the cake ingredients together.  In separate bowl mix filling.
Pour half the batter into pan.  Sprinkle half the filling on top.
Repeat.
Bake for 30-35 min.
Best served warm!

Pecan Pie!

Pastor Appreciation month normally takes place in October.  For our Pastor I make Pecan Pie because it's his favorite.  He stopped me in the hallway yesterday and said, "That pie was delicious!  What did you do differently?"  I had used new crust and new pie recipes so I tried to sum it up for him: 1. Pecans in the crust, 2. Mixture of corn syrup and sugar (not just one or the other) and 3. Flour in the pie itself (which helps offset the sweet).  He said that normally he can only have one piece at a time because it's too sweet but this pie was just right so he'd cut himself a piece. . . then another sliver of pie. . . then another and another!  He said it was one of the best pies he'd ever eaten!  So, I decided to share this with you the week before Thanksgiving so if you need to be inspired for desserts you can use this one!  These recipes are fabulous!

Pie Crust (with chopped pecans) Recipe from the 1989 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
Ingredients
1 1/4 c flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 c shortening or lard
1/4 c very finely chopped pecans
4-5 T cold water

 Directions
In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt.  Cut in shortening/lard til the size of small peas.
Add the pecans and stir together.  Sprinkle in water 1 T at a time.  Tossing dough with fork til it starts to stick together (you'll probably need all 5 T of water because of the extra dry ingredients (pecans)).
Form dough into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands.  Roll dough from center to edges, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Wrap pastry around rolling pin and then unroll onto a 9 in pie plate.  Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond pie plate. Fold under extra pastry and make fluted edge.  DO NOT PRICK PASTRY.

Note:  The less you handle the dough the less tough it will be.
 When you bake the pie put it on the bottom rack.  The bottom being closer to the heat will cook nicely and not become soggy because of all the liquid and you won't need to cover the edges of the pie in foil to keep them from burning.

Pecan Pie recipe taken from the "City of Suffolk Employees' Cookbook"
Ingredients
2 T butter
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 T flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. corn syrup
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans

Directions
Line a pie plate with pastry.
Cream butter and sugar.  Add beaten eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, and syrup. Stir well.
Add pecans and pour into unbaked pastry and bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes.

Note:
Let cool on wire rack til cool to "set" however if you want to serve it warm place in a warm oven (300-350) for 15-20 min.  Yum!