I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving, and is looking forward to a Merry Christmas! On the 28th of November, my oldest daughter Brandi welcomed a perfect little boy (Cooper) to our family. I’ve been a little busy helping with the other children since then. I did manage to take a few pictures while preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, and thought I would share them with you, in the next several posts. Many of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes are also perfect for your Christmas Dinners as well.
I am anxious to start making Candy and Cookies and all our family favorites for Christmas. As soon as I get half a minute, I will post some fabulous holiday recipes for you. It’s Candy time…Caramels, Chocolates, Boston Creams, Fudge, Divinity, Toffee, Peanut Brittle, Almond Joys and scrumptious cookies. The list goes on and on and on. Come Back soon!
Just look at those yummy cinnamon and sugared apples!
You will need:
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
1/4 Cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/8 Tsp. Salt
6 Cups thinly sliced TART Apples
3 Tablespoons butter
white Sugar for the top of the pie.
Mix sugars, flour & spices & salt in a med. size bowl. Add your sliced tart apples, and toss together until well mixed & covered. Spread apple mixture in pastry lined pie shell. Dot top of apples with butter. Place the top pastry over apples & crimp the edges. Slash the top crush with a sharp knife, making 2 or 3 cuts to allow for vents. Sprinkle top of uncooked pastry with white sugar generously. Make foil strips, and place around outer edges of pie crust, being careful not to mash pie dough. Place pie on the middle rack of your oven. Bake at 350 degrees about one hour, or until pie crust is very golden. Make sure that the bottom crust in golden brown as well.
Cool pie on wire rack, before slicing. Serve with ice cream or Whipping cream
FLAKY PASTRY
4 Cups Sifted Flour
1 3/4 Cups shortening
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 egg
1/2 Cup Water
Sift flour, sugar & salt together. Put dry mixture into a very large Tupperware bowl, with a firm fitting lid. Cut shortening into smaller pieces, with either a fork, or a pastry cutter. Make sure that the shortening has been tossed around a bit in the flour. Now put the lid on your tupperware bowl, and shake, shake, shake, until it has become the size of small peas. In another small bowl, combine the egg and the vinegar, and mix together with a fork. Now pour that on top of your flour mixture. Grab a fork, and simply toss some of the flour over the top of the liquid, covering as much liquid as you can. DON’T STIR OR TRY TO MOLD THE DOUGH! Put the lid on the bowl, and begin to shake, shake, shake! ….until it has started to adhere together. Peek at the dough…..if it is still quite sticky, toss a little more flour over the dough. (1 -2 tablespoons). Replace the lid, and shake again. You will know when the pastry is ready, because it will form a ball of dough……all on it’s own. It’s like magic…and will always give you perfect, flaky crust. I promise.
*This recipe makes 2 double crust 9″ pies.