Apple Pie Cookies

It's that time of year when both the stress levels rise enough to procrastinate through baking and the apples start to arrive in such large numbers that my house can't keep up with them. So, in a moment of foresight (at least, that's what I'm telling myself) I asked some friends if the next day they wanted cookies or apple pie. The response, jokingly, was apple pie cookies. That was a challenge I could pass up. You can't make some food up that sounds super yummy and expect me not to try to follow through! So, here are the very happy results. A little more like fruit pockets than apple pies, but next time I'll see if I can do a small lattice top for each (though that will be a night when I'm in need of even more serious procrastination).

Ingredients

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick, and this works well with dairy free substitutes)
2-4 Tbsp chilled water

For the Apple Filling:
3 apples, diced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cornstarch mixed into 1 Tbsp cold water

Optional: a little extra white sugar and whole milk to drizzle on top

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F.

To make the crust, stir together all the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter and mix using your hands until a course meal is formed. Add the water 1 Tbsp at a time and mix well until the dough starts to come together. Don't overdo the water by adding it to fast - once it has been worked a little the dough comes together when at first seems like it might be dry. Make sure the final dough is not sticky but supple enough to be kneaded a bit to blend.

Most recipes say to always set aside and chill your dough. I didn't when I did these little cookies and it didn't seem to make a difference. But feel free to cover and chill in your fridge while you prepare the apples.

In a small saucepan, heat the apples over medium-low heat. Once they start to get a little juicy add in the sugar and spices. Cook until the apples start to get soft and go clear, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add in the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring for another 2 minutes (until it starts to thicken). Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

While the apples are cooling, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the dough. I rolled mine to about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut out shapes using any cookie cutter you want. Place the cuttings that will form the bottoms onto the baking sheet. Spoon a tablespoon of filling into the center of each cut out. Place a second cut out on top of the filling, and crimp together the edges of each cookie-pie with a fork.

Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cut small slits into the top of each to let the steam out.

Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges start to get golden.

Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

I made these cookies one day when I had a hankering of serious sorts for some serious chocolate. No ordinary chocolate cookie was going to do. I needed something slightly fudgy. But I didn't want the sweetness of fudge. It needed to have more depth. It needed a butterscotch base...or, the closest approximation I could make with the ingredients I had in my house. And these were the result. They were, um, gone way too fast.

Ingredients

1/3 cup flour
2 tsp flax seed meal
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoon cognac or scotch
8 oz chocolate chips, bittersweet
Almonds, walnuts, unsweetened coconut, etc for texture (about one cup total)

Directions

Mix first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
In another bowl beat together egg and sugar until a thick smooth paste forms, about 2 minutes.
In a heavy bottom pan over low heat, melt together the butter and honey. Add cognac and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 1 minute. Then turn the heat to low and add in chocolate chips, stirring until they melt and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.
Add both wet to dry. Mix until just barely blended.
Stir in almonds, coconut, etc.
Chill in freezer for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Remove dough from freezer and roll balls (of a spoonful of dough) and place evenly spread on tray.
Bake 15 minutes.

Sweet Potato Soup with Beet Green Hazelnut Pesto

Oh my dear neglected blog. I'm so sorry to have been gone so long. Happy new year. Happy new food. I've been accumulating photos for the last few months of silence. The cooking hadn't stopped even if the writing down of recipes had. Or, at least the translation of scribbles on scraps of paper written hastily once something successful emerges from my kitchen into something digital and legible to people who are not me.

Here's to starting back up, with something unusual, super yummy, and yet still healthy. What a better way to enter back in to things?

(ah, cheers to procrastination.)

This dish was the result of remnants from my veggie box. I swear, local CSA vegetable boxes are the best way to force creativity and healthy eating. I've found myself cooking with ingredient that I didn't even know were ingredients until a year ago or so. Like radish greens. Or beet greens. All I know is that I've been missing out on good things. Seriously good things. Maybe you already knew this. I'm just happy to finally learn.

Beet Green and Hazelnut Pesto
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 bunch beet greens (greens from 4 or 5 beets)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of one juicy lime
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp grated parmesean, packed
2 colves garlic

For the pesto:

Toast the hazelnuts in a pan on the stove over medium heat, stirring often. The nuts are done when they start to become aromatic. It's a quick turn between aromatic and burnt, so watch closely.
Toss nuts and all remaining pesto ingredients into a food processor and blend. This is a really thick pesto (in order to keep the oil down) so you will have to scrape the sides down multiple times. You can add more oil for a more spreadable result. This pesto will spoon as a ball but not spread.

Sweet Potato Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, smooshed
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
3 yams or sweet potatoes, cubed (with skin on)
1 tsp ground cumin
4 cups water (more if you want a thinner soup)
zest and juice of one lime
2 Tbsp grated ginger

For the Soup:
Heat the oil in the thick bottomed pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and saute gently until golden (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and pepper and keep sauteing until the garlic become golden (only a minute or so).
Toss in yams and cumin and cook, covered, until the yams begin to get soft, stirring occasionally.
Once the yams are soft, add water and bring to as boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the yams begin to fall apart (just a few minutes).
Add lime and ginger and simmer for one more minute.
Remove from heat. Blend until smooth. Serve with a dollop of the pesto.