Peach Crisp

I usually make apple crisp, but since I had a bunch of small peaches that weren’t all that great I decided to use the peaches instead. Otherwise I’m a fresh peach kind of person, no point in cooking those delicious juicy things.

This recipe comes from the old Betty Crocker Cookbook.

I had about 8-10 small peaches (they were pretty small), I peeled and sliced them and placed them in pan (8x8 or there abouts).

Mix the following ingredients until crumbly:

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup oats
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg (my version not Betty’s—her’s calls for ¾ tsp ground nutmeg). I find that the freshly ground nutmeg from the nut is stronger, needing less.
1/3 cup butter, softened

Sprinkle over peaches and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve warm or if desired, with ice cream.

Fresh ground nutmeg-I like how the inside of the nutmeg looks.

I forgot to take a picture after I baked it, but it sort of looks like this only a little more golden brown and of course cooked.

Apple Pie

Who doesn’t like this All American Favorite? When someone says pie, usually people think apple. If you make the entire pie from scratch, it can take a while. See my Cherry Pie for the pie crust.

Peeling and slicing the apples can take a good deal of time, but if you have a peeler/slicer gadget thing that certainly helps.

After you have the two-pie crust made and you’re ready for the filling, I use Betty Crocker’s recipe, but sometimes I add an extra apple or two.

For a 9 inch pie:
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of salt
6 cups thinly sliced pared tart apples (about 6 medium)
2 tablespoons of butter

Prepare your pastry or see my post for step-by-step directions of making pie crust. Mix sugar, flour, spices and then stir in apples. Turn into pastry lined pie plate and dot with butter. Cover with top crust with slits, seal and flute. Cover the edge with 3 inch aluminum strip and remove during the last 15 minutes of baking if necessary. Bake at 425 degrees until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits, about 40-50 minutes.

I have one of those pie crust covers, but they don’t seem to work for me even though it’s much easier to plop that over the pie plate then fooling around with the foil strips. I have found if I tear the three strips in half (so there’s six little strips), it’s easier to keep around the pie plate. One always wants to fall off causing the others to fall off. I don’t know why the smaller strips stay on better, you’d think it’d be the opposite. Another tip of mine—I always use glass pie plates. I don’t know why I don’t like the metal or tin plates, but for some reason they seem to take on the flavor of the metal.

Oh yeah, after the pie comes out of the oven, I sprinkle it with a sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Apple Tart

Apple Tarts aren’t for the faint of heart. You need to be willing to put in some effort when baking one these babies.

After I watched the movie Julie and Julia, I fell in love with Julia Childs. I of course had to go out and purchase Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Then of course I had to make this Apple Tart.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking will give you step-by-step detailed information on how to make an Apple Tart.

Everyone that tasted my Apple Tart found it to be most pleasing to their palate (do I sound like Julia?). Pretend I’m speaking with a French accent. That might help. Oh wait, Julia wasn’t French. Pretend anyway.

At any rate, in order not to infringe on copyright laws, go and purchase Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It’s a nice book to have and it’ll teach you a lot. I thought I knew a lot about cooking, but I learned quite a few tricks myself. Just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Bon Appetite! Ruff Ruff!