Apple Stump-pies

Apple Stump-pies

Crust
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1/2 C ice water
2 cubes of unsalted butter


Cut butter into cubes and freeze for about a half hour. In food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt.


Add butter and pulse until it resembles course cornmeal. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time until dough holds together when pinched. Turn out onto a board and lightly knead with a light dusting of flour. Form into 2 discs and refrigerate for an hour.

Filling
4 Granny Smith apples, cut into small cubes
1 T lemon juice
1 T orange juice
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp orange zest
1 T flour
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash allspice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Egg wash
1 egg
1 T cream (or milk)

Preheat oven to 425F.


Peel, core and chop apples into small pieces. We are making 'Stump-pies (using a tiny muffin pan) so the apple chunks need to be small.



Combine all ingredients and coat apples. 

Let this mixture sit for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Quite a bit of juice will come through, strain apples over bowl for another 30 minutes, reserving juices.


Bring the juices to a boil, adding 1 T butter.


Stir in apples and combine well.


Remove dough from fridge and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll out to 1/8" thick and cut out circles with a cutter.


Place dough discs in mini muffin pans, fill with a heaping spoonful of apple mixture. I didn't want to crimp the top crusts, so used a cookie cutter to cut small shapes and placed them on top instead.
Brush tops with egg wash and spinkle with sugar. Bake 19 minutes.



DELICIOUS! ENJOY!

Next time, I want to try a different kind of apple - maybe Braeburn or Jonagold. The Granny Smith was a tad too tart for me, and, I probably will add a bit more sugar!

Side: 3-Cheese Scalloped Potatoes : UPDATED

This is one of our favorite side dishes! I like to use individual oblong ramekin dishes, but you can easily adjust the recipe and bake it in a large pan for a group.

3-Cheese Scalloped Potatoes

Preheat oven to 450F
Butter pan or ramekins.

4-5 yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C cream
1 garlic clove, cut in half
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 C Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 C Parmisiano Reggiano, grated
1/2 C White cheddar, grated
1 T four (add to cheeses)


Topping
1 slice of white sandwich bread (or large piece of baguette)
1/2 C French's fried onions
1 tsp fresh chopped parsley
2T melted butter
(I forgot to take pictures, but pulverize the bread and fried onions together and bind w/ butter)

Thinly slice potatoes. My mom gave me this Japanese Mandolin slicer and I use it all the time!

Combine milk, cream, garlic and spices. Add a good handful of the prepared cheese as well. Add potatoes and bring to a boil. If necessary, add more milk and cream - it should cover the potatoes.
Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes. Remove garlic.

The sauce will have thickened. Layer half the potatoes.

Layer half of the cheese over the potato, the remaining potatoes and sauce mixture.
Top with remaining cheese and bread crumb topping. Cover with foil (coat with nonstick spray).

Place ramekins on baking sheet (it will bubble over).

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, until browned.
Let potatoes set for at least 15 minutes (or it will be runny).

Eat 'em up!

Chicken Strips!

Dev and I were in the mood for a late night snack - not hungry enough for a full-on dinner, so we decided on Chicken Strips! I came across a 'copy cat' recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken Strips, but I didn't have most of the ingredients - potassium cholride, accent salt, bottle of chicken base... so, I made due with what I had on hand:

Marinade
1 Knorr Tomato bouillon with Chicken flavor (Caldo de Tomate)
2 C water
1 T kosher salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Egg wash
1 egg
1 C whole milk

Coating
2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp baking powder



Mix marinade ingredients and simmer on the stove until bouillon cube dissolves. Let cool.


Cut chicken into strips and marinate for 1.5 hours (or longer). Take chicken out of marinade and dry on paper towels and take off excess moisture.

Combine coating ingredients in a shallow pan.

Beat together milk and egg. Dip strips into egg wash.


..then coating, then egg and flour again.

Coat all chicken pieces and let rest on cookie sheet.

Heat oil to 375F and deep fry until golden brown!  

Okay, I did NOT take the 'healthy' route here and heated Crisco shortening. 

YUM!

These strips were surprisingly tasty! Next time, I might try marinating it for an hour longer. The coating was fairly crisp, but nothing at all like KFC. Still, it was delicious.

ENJOY!