A is for APPLE! P is for PIE!

[taste_is_sweet]

So, certain people on my FList (I'm not naming any names, but lavvyan or fish_echo might have been involved) decided to make a Cookbook inspired by the television show Stargate: Atlantis. (And why not, after all? There are several Star Wars cookbooks out there, some more bizarre than others.)

And a lot of the recipes look really, really good.

So! Now I am in the process of making Apple Pie for Dinner, and I am ridiculously excited, I tell you. For serious. The only reason why it's not in the oven at this very second is because I halted proceedings so that my son could help me combine the ingredients. He likes cooking with his parents. :)

Unfortunately, I couldn't follow the recipe exactly. I was, actually, thinking of leaving out the parsley on purpose, but I know it has lots of health benefits so I figured what the hell. Besides, it's part of the recipe, and for some reason while I'm normally pretty fast and loose with following recipes, this one I wanted to do exactly as instructed.

However, I peeled the apples on behalf of my Wee One, who I knew from past experience would pull the apple skin out of his mouth while making a face like he was being poisoned, then say hopefully, 'I done!', which of course in Preschooler Speak actually means, 'I think this meal is crap so I'm hoping I can snow you into letting me meet my nutritional requirements with candy'. Jav can also be a little dubious about food that has actually visibly mixed ingredients, but he loves cheese so I remain optimistic. Besides, it's pie! Pie for dinner! How can that not be fantastic?

Sadly, because I didn't actually read the recipe as well as I thought I had when I decided in a fit of glee that I had to make this tonight, I failed to buy cream. However, my awesome husband found a baking site that has a whole page of ingredient substitutions, so I was able to buy whole milk and butter (which I'd also forgotten) at the local variety store (the only store I can walk to, as it happens) and make a cream-like substance by mixing butter and milk. We'll see how that turns out in approximately an hour.

The guy at the variety store is Muslim. I'm not sure where from, though, but he is super, super nice. He would have actually let me take a bunch of those tiny cream containers from the coffee display if I hadn't needed a whole cup's worth of them. His dad also told me once that my son's Dumbo-sized, sticking out ears that he inherited from his mother denoted intelligence. Which are words for which I will always remain grateful, because shortly after Javier was born, my husband and I had a few conversations vaguely like this:

Dom: His ears stick out. A lot.
Me: Don't worry about it! Mine do too! See? ::pulls hair back, shows mutant ears::
Dom: ::recoiling in horror:: How the hell did I miss that before I married you?
Me: My hair. But the point is, I went on to become a useful and productive member of society! And even snagged a hot husband! He'll be fine!
Dom: ::dubious:: Maybe we should staple his ears back.

Okay, Dom brought Javier home, and we assembled the ingredients previously-cooked by yours truly. And I'm afraid I forgot that cooking with a small child isn't, shall we say, an exact science. Javier put 1/4 teaspoon of pepper into the grated cheese, and the spices didn't quite mix perfectly with the cream substitute. (fish_echo, should I have used a blender?) We also forgot to put some of the parsley on the bottom of the pie crust, and then Javier put all of the parsley on top of the pie.

But I'm sure it'll still be fantastic! It's cooling right now, so I'll know pretty soon. :D

Next week, I'm going to try the 'Harvest Bread'. Or maybe the 'Spazzy Cookies (of Jealousy)', which for anyone in the fandom is hilarious. Trust me. ::g::

Thank you, fish_echo!

Comments

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thank you for the heads-up about the Harvest Bread's sweetness. I hadn't read the whole recipe very carefully, so I'm hoping I would have noticed that I'd need more sugar. Can I add 1/4 cup more, or double it, do you think?

I'd love to try the cookies! But the preparation seems a bit complicated, with the rolling them out and using cookie cutters and everything. That might be a good weekend project to do with the boy. :)

[fish-echo.livejournal.com]

I think you could probably get away with 1.5 times the amount in the recipe without trouble. Based off of that you could then do further experimentation. The advantage of the Harvest Bread over traditional yeast breads is the lack of yeast-- in a yeast bread additional sugar generally translates to more food for the yeast-- so it's fluffier but not sweeter. Whereas with this recipe I don't think anything untoward should happen with additional sugar, but I'm not positive, which is why I'd say to start the alterations with 1.5x

I usually make Harvest Bread (or other fruit/veg breads) for breakfast or as a healthy snack so I don't really have much experience in making them sweeter.

If you can't get fresh currants, you can substitute dried currents or dried cranberries or some other slightly-tart fruit. If you use sweetened and dried fruit that would help as well. I don't recommend using fresh cranberries because they'd be too tart.

As far as the cookies, I was thinking it would be a good time with the boy (I have fond memories of being a small fish and baking cookies)-- I do think the use of melted rather than softened butter makes it more child-fun.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

I think all the stuff you know about baking is really cool. :D

I was planning on using dried cranberries, as a matter of fact, since I've never liked currants. I know the men in my life would want a sweet bread, though, so I'll start with the half more sugar. Thank you for the suggestion. :)

I would have probably melted the butter for the cookies too, since I'm lazy and Jav's favourite part of cooking is when he gets to dump stuff into a bowl, so the easier that is, the better. :)

I need to remember to list the ingredients tomorrow, so I can make bread with him next week. Friday night is pancake night--Javier's favourite. ;->