Monday Match-Up

Apples...the child in me wants to twist my tongue and say, "apple".  :o)  And i'm not saying that I didn't do it a couple times in the past couple days.  It's funny.  Ha!  Anyhoo...It's my week to choose the Monday Match-Up, but I have a really hard time thinking of things.  So, my thoughtful sister said, "Hey!  What about apples, where it's the start of the school season!?"  What a great idea!  Apples it is. 

I chose to do an apple turnover.  Way easy and way yummy.  (I'm eating one now as I type.)  Now, I could have been all "susie homemaker" and make my own puff pastry, but let's get real here!  I like easy.  So, I bought the puff pastry in the store, and it worked out magnificently!  I used my handy apple peeler and corer to do all the hard work for me, and Justy thought that was fun.

Here's the recipe
4 good sized Granny Apples
2 Tbsp. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. water
1 pkg of puff pastry (17.25 oz)

For the icing
1 c. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Take out your puff pastry and let it thaw out prior to making your apple filling.

Core and peal apples.  Cut them so they are pretty little slices.  Melt butter on medium heat in a large skillet and add apples.  Stir it around for a good 2 minutes.  Add brown sugar and cinnamon and stir for another few minutes.  Mix cornstarch with 1 Tbsp water and add to apples stirring constantly til it starts thickening up a bit.  Remove from heat to cool slightly. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Unfold puff pastry and cut square into 4 smaller squares.  (The entire box should make 8 turnovers.)  Spoon apples into center of each square.  Fold over and either pinch edges to seal or I used a fork to make it look a little more pretty.  GO ME!  Put on a cookie sheet at least 1" apart and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and PUFFY.  Keep your eye on them.  It's ok if they leak.  Don't judge!  ;o) Your house will smell divine!!! Cool completely before glazing.

For your icing add your milk and vanilla to powdered sugar and blend til it's a good consitency.  Add a little more milk if you want it thinner or sugar if you want it thicker.  I put the icing in a pastry bag and decorated the tops.  A ziploc bag works great too!  If you don't want icing then sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar before baking.  NOM NOM NOM!  I thought these would be really good with a good scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Hey all, Monica here. Fall is in the air, eh? If you know me well then you know how much I love Fall. LOVE it. Somehow apples in September is a great way to bring in the Fall season and the harvest. I chose an Apple Cake. I had never made an apple cake so I looked through some cookbooks and browsed the net for a recipe. I finally settled on a recipe by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa).  She calls it Apple Cake Tatin. I love trying new recipes but always fear they are going to be a failure. So far so good. This turned out very pretty and pretty tasty. I'm actually not a huge fan of fruit in cake but I'm glad I tried this.

The fun part about this recipe was making a sugar caramel and pouring over the sliced apples before covering with cake batter. The batter was very tasty with a touch of lemon zest. I know my batters and can usually tell if they cake will turn out or not just by the batter. If you're looking for a pretty dessert for a fall get together, check this one out.

Here we go with a new week! Have a happy Monday!