Crunchy Baked Apple Stacks

I have been craving sweets a lot lately. But I have been resisting the urge to make things because for two people, it's just so much quantity to make a cake or a batch of cookies. But now that I have found these lovelies, I am really in trouble. This was a marriage of two recipes: one from Martha and one from Donna Hay, two kitchen geniuses so it was bound to be delicious. (Does that make me a super-genius for this recipe?)

Warm, sweet, easy and pretty. It doesn't get any better than this!

Crunchy Baked Apple Stacks

Serves 2

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 red apples, cored and thickly sliced
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

• Preheat oven to 355 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, mix together oats, sugar, butter, cinnamon and vanilla.
• Place the bottom slice of each apple on the tray and top each slice with a spoonful of the oat mixture. Repeat with remaining oat mixture and apple slices.
• Bake stacks for 25-30 minutes or until apple is just soft.
• Serve with whipped or ice cream, if desired.

Recipe adapted from Donna Hay, No Time to Cook and Martha Stewart, The New Classics

Savoury Stuffed Acorn Squash

As soon as I saw this featured in a holiday spread in House and Home magazine, I knew I wanted to make it. I had never cooked with acorn squash before but I do love squash, and the "stuffing" sounded delicious with the apple and pecans. But mostly, I loved the presentation. Imagine serving this as a first course to your dinner guests? So unexpected.

Another great thing is that this is a make ahead -- always a must for me when entertaining. There is some last minute assembly and broiling of the cheese, but overall an easy and impressive dish that will certainly grace the table of my next get together.

Savoury Stuffed Acorn Squash

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 6 small acorn squash
• 1/4 cup butter, plus two tbsp 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 shallots, chopped
• 3 McIntosh apples, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tsp crumbled dried sage
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with foil. Cut squash in half lengthwise, from stem to tip, and scoop out seeds. Pat with 1/4 cup of butter and sprinkle brown sugar over the inside of each. Roast, flat side up, for 40-50 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Saute shallots, apple, celery, pecans and sage until apples and celery are soft. Stir in bread crumbs and salt and pepper.
• Remove cooked squash from oven. Stuff with apple mixture. Top with mozzarella and put back in oven and broil until cheese browns. (these can be made ahead, but top with cheese prior to serving)

Recipe adapted from November 2010 issues of House and Home magazine

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

It's getting cool outside and there's nothing I love more than a big bowl of soup. Soup is surprisingly easy to make. During the fall and winter, something I like to make every Sunday because it lasts for a few days and whatever is left over freezes really well. 


This was the first time I'd made cauliflower soup and it got rave reviews from T. This is definitely a keeper.


Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped
• 4-5 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Melt the butter a large pot. Add the onions and let cook for a couple of minutes before adding the carrots and cook for another few minutes.
• Add the chicken stock and potatoes and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about five minutes before adding the cauliflower and apple. Let simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are soft.
• Let cool before either blending in batches using a blender or using an immersion blender directly in the pot.
• Once blended, add cream, nutmeg and salt and pepper.

Grilled Cheese with Honeycrisp Apple

Grilled cheese and tomato soup is one of my favourite comfort foods. It's the perfect antidote to a cold and rainy day. I saw Martha Stewart on Oprah the other day and she said the "next big thing" is going to be the grilled cheese bar at parties, so I thought I would step up my grilled cheese from the regular white bread with a Kraft single, so something a little more grown up. 


The apple in this made it a perfect complement to the cream of cauliflower soup I made last week.


Ingredients

• 2 slices of rye bread
• 2 tbsp butter
• 8 slices mozzarella cheese (I cut it from a brick, so use your judgement on how much cheese this is!)
• 6 thin slices from a honeycrisp apple

Directions

• Slather one side of each piece of bread with butter
• Lay the bottom layer down in a frying pan on low heat, butter side down
• Place half the cheese down on the bread in a single layer
• Top with a layer of apple
• Top with the remaining cheese and then the second piece of bread with the butter side up
• Cook on medium-low for about five minutes
• Flip and cook on the second side for about 3 minutes

** I found it easiest to flip the sandwich with tongs, which helped keep the sandwich together

Apple Pie with Caramel Sauce

T. was going away for a boys weekend, so I thought I'd make something special for the guys to enjoy. He was kind enough to bring me back one slice (as I could hardly send a pie with one slice missing -- could I?) and it was delicious!

This amazing recipe had nearly 3,000 people give it five stars on www.allrecipes.com. What's special about it is that you pour a caramel sauce over the lattice top and then as it cooks, it seeps into the spaces between the slats and leaves a nice glaze on top. The presentation was amazing and it was a great opportunity to try out a new way to top a pie. 

Lattice was time consuming but surprisingly easy. I simply rolled out a pastry crust like I would if I was going to put on a regular top. Then, using a fork, I measured out even sections, and then I used a pizza roller and a box of tin foil as a guide to cut them. Then I draped every other piece over the pie -- this is important so they're even on the pie. Then, going the other direction, I wove slats through the pieces already on the pie -- one over, one under. What I found really helpful is each time I went to weave a new piece, I flipped up all the slats that it was going to go under, then I could just put it down, and flip the pieces back over. I found www.youtube.com very helpful for this visually!

Ingredients

• 2 flakey pie crusts
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 6 baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used Royal Gala)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to make a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer, stirring often until forms a caramel consistency.
• Toss apples with cinnamon.
• Place the bottom crust in pie plate. Fill with apples, mounded slightly.
• Cover with a lattice work of crust. When finished latticing, tuck top crust into bottom crust and tuck into pie plate. Pinch crusts together with two fingers.
• Gently pour the sugar sauce over the crust. Pour slowly so it doesn't run off. Pour right over crust too, as it will seep into holes while cooking, but will leave a nice glaze on crust.
• Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.