Snickerdoodle Pie

Something about cold weather put me in a pie frame of mind. I could happily eat pie all year around but I always tend to really think about them with the first cold snap. It also might have been the fact that I received an email chalked full of pie recipe from All You late last week.

So put together the facts that I love pie and the fact that my best friend and I were sitting on her couch chit-chatting Friday night discussing what I’ll be bringing to the girls poker party on Saturday and I remembered that her favorite cookie is a snickerdoodle and ta-da I knew exactly what I was making.

Now, let me explain the poor photos, it isn’t the prettiest pie. Although I am certain someone could or has taken a better photo of it. Let me also explain that it doesn’t quite taste like a snicker doodle, it’s more like a chess pie with some sweetness on top. When I make it again, because despite the fact that it wasn’t spot on snickerdoodle it was really good, I’ll be baking it without the cinnamon sugar on top and instead sprinkling that over after it’s baked. I might also try to come up with some sort of sugar cookie crust. I know that seems like a lot of changes but even without them the pie actually tasted very good like I said above. I brought home half from the party and there is only one piece left as of this writing. That either means it's really good or I am a cow, heck, let's go with both.


Snickerdoodle Pie
recipe from myrecipes.com

1 frozen pie crust, thawed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Fit pie crust dough into a 9-inch pie pan and crimp edge decoratively. Place in refrigerator to chill while preparing filling.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Set a rack in lower third of oven. Line a baking sheet with foil and set it on oven rack.

In a small bowl, stir together cinnamon and 1 Tbsp. sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk, egg yolks, flour, vanilla, salt and remaining 1 cup sugar. Pour into chilled pie shell.

Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over custard.

Set pie on preheated baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Without opening oven, reduce temperature to 325ºF and bake until pie is set, puffed and golden, about 20 minutes longer.

Let cool on a wire rack, then serve, or cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate to serve cold.


The girls said that it had a slight lemon taste which I am assuming is from the buttermilk. It actually reminded me of a pie that Baby Cakes’ Granny makes, incidently a lemon chess pie. I really did enjoy it.

XOXO,

Stroganoff-Style Spaghetti and Meatballs

Baby Cakes and I ate off this recipe for 3 meals. First, the night I cooked it then for a late lunch on Saturday and again for lunch on Sunday. 3 times, and I am not a leftover fan that alone should tell you how amazing I found this recipe to be.

Now you might notice that it is similar to my Aunt Maggie’s Beef Stroganoff that I shared when I first started blogging only better, so much better. I plan on recreating Aunt Maggie’s recipe with these ingredients sometime in the very near future.

To bring the cost down you could use ground meat, stew meat or even chicken, although frozen prepared meatballs do occasionally go on sale (that's how I got mine). Get creative.


Stroganoff-Style Spaghetti and Meatballs
recipe from Taste of Home Simple & Delicious magazine, January/February 2010, p27

1 lb. uncooked spaghetti
1 package (28 ounces) frozen fully cooked Italian meatballs, thawed
4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cans (10.75 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoon beef broth
1 tablespoon seasoning blend
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups sour cream

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, sauté the meatballs, onion and garlic in oil for 4-5 minutes or until meatballs are browned. Stir in the soup, milk, broth and seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.

Gradually stir in sour cream; heat through but do not boil. Drain the spaghetti; stir into the skillet. Serve immediately.


So amahzing!

XOXO,

Smothered Pork Chops

Have I ever shared with you how much I love anything pickled? I am a pickle eater. In fact when I was younger my Mom and Dad would give me a giant jar of pickles for Christmas. At family functions the pickle tray is put out last minute because they know either I or my brother will get into them and they will be mostly gone before the supper takes place. I always order fried pickles if they have them on a menu. At night if I feel like having a snack it’s more than likely eating pickles from the jar until I can’t eat anymore. I’ve had pickled eggs, pickled corn, carrots, green beans, okra, sweet, spicy or dill, anything pickled. I have been on a search for the pickled coleslaw recipe that Baby Cakes and I had on our honeymoon since our, well, honeymoon, can’t find anything close by the way, perhaps a good reason to go back to the B&B we stayed at. My favorite snow cone flavor is pickle. Yeah, I love pickles. So you know that when I came across this recipe on $5 Dinners it was on like Donkey Kong. I had to try it.

Now her version is baked, as are a few others version I found online, but I am trying it in a large skillet like the original recipe calls for. Infact, here is the exact recipe borrowed from $5 Dinners blog.


It turned out really tasty and although it didn't actually taste like pickles it was very very good. Baby Cakes gave it a 9 and I give it 7. I would make it again though, overall it was a yummy and fairly simple dish to make.


Smothered Pork Chops
recipe from $5 Dinners

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4-5 pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 tablespoons pickle juice
1 tablespoon water
salt and pepper to taste

In a shallow dish mix the flour, salt and pepper until combined. Dip the pork chops on both sides in the flour mixture to coat.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown the pork chops on both side. Turn the heat down to low.

Cover the browned pork chops with the onions, celery, pickle juice and water; cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour or until the onions are soft and meat is cooked through.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over buttered rice or mashed potatoes.


I think one of the best thing about this recipe is that it is from so long ago. I love things with history.

Nom Nom Nom,

Potato Kielbasa Skillet‏

Get your taste buds ready y’all, this dish is wonderful.

Until this recipe came along I was quite unhappy with the quality of Taste of Homes’ Simple & Delicious recipes. Their ideas were good, or I wouldn’t have made them in the first place, but they left a lot to be desired in way of taste. My opinion has officially changed and this recipe is to thank for that.

In the original recipe it only called for half of the sauce but regarding my love of flavor I doubled it. I am glad I did. It cooks down to a glaze of sorts and was fantastic. And one more small change, I used processed wild hog link sausage courtesy of my Father in Law's hog last season.

Baby Cakes and I both polished off the entire skillets worth. Yes, I admit to being a total oinker, that’s just how good this was.


Potato Kielbasa Skillet‏
recipe from Simple & Delicious, November/December 2008, p9

1 pound red potatoes, cubed
3 tablespoons water
3/4 pound smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 cups fresh baby spinach
5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Place potatoes and water in a microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes or until tender; drain.

In a large skillet, sauté kielbasa and onion in oil until onion is tender. Add potatoes; sauté 3-5 minutes longer or until kielbasa and potatoes are lightly browned.

Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, thyme and pepper; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Add spinach and bacon; cook and stir until spinach is wilted.


This meal will be served again and again in the Bennett household.

XOXO,

Buttermilk Biscuits

I have a little confession to make. I have never made certain, most, baked good from scratch. I have never made a pie crust, cookies, rolls or biscuits. I’ve always been intimidated by the rolling out and cutting process but today is the day that changes. I have pumpkin butter to share with loved ones and I need to send something to use along with it. Biscuits are perfect.

Every once in a while I receive emails with cooking tips. Have you guys seen them? I’ll be posting a few of them beginning with a microwave corn recipe in a day or two. Anyway, back to the sharing at hand, the email for the biscuits recipe was of a little old lady showing someone, the video taker, how she makes her families recipe. She made it look so easy. I had to try it.



Now some parts of the recipe are missing due to malfunctions with the video camera so I used my own judgment on measurements. Below are my measurements.


Buttermilk Biscuits
recipe lightly adapted from Gertrude Lindley

3 cups self rising flour
1 cup crisco, chilled
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 450.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Scoop a well into the middle of the flour. Put the shortening and buttermilk into the well. Using your hand, work the milk and crisco together until there are no large lumps of crisco. Slowly go around the bowl mixing the flour, little by little, into the milk and shortening mixture until combined. Once there is no raw flour left in the bowl and if the dough is still sticky add a bit more flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, working it in until it is no longer sticky.

Turn out onto a floured board and roll to about 1 inch thick. Cut with a round cookie cutter dipped in flour. Place onto a greased cookie sheet.

If your going to freeze them bake for 7 minutes or until they rise and then take out of the oven, let cool and then freeze on a cookie sheet. Once frozen you can transfer to a freezer bag. When your ready to bake off just set on a cookie sheet and let thaw, then bake off in a 450 oven for about 12 minutes.

If your going to cook them now, brush the tops with melted butter and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden on top.

Once out of the oven, brush the tops again with melted butter.


They turned out just fantastic. I am just amazed that my first attempt at biscuits turned out to be so good.

XOXO,