Sour Cream Apple Pie

An apple orchard with Mount Hood
in the background.

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This is an old time Oregon recipe.

1 pie shell, unbaked

3 cups apple slices
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
1 dash of salt
2 Tbls flour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine and place into the pie shell.
Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.
Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake until the apples are partially cooked.

Then combine:

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour over the partially cooked apple pie.
Reduce heat to 325 and bake until set.

Baked Beans

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Baked beans are a significant thing in my family. My grandmother was a Morrill, which is the Morrill in the B & M baked beans, and she came from Boston. She always made baked beans on Saturday. Now I haven't carried on that tradition, but we all like baked beans a lot.

3 big cans of beans of your choice
(1 must be B&M baked beans)
1 onions, chopped
1/2 - 1 pound sausage meat (optional)
or bacon diced, cooked, drained.
1 spoonful mustard, any kind you like
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
2 - 4 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the onions, then add the sausage and cook well and remove excess fat. Add the rest of the ingredients. Taste. You may need to add more pepper, or more mustard, or a dash of Tabasco sauce, or whatever. When it tastes great put into a bean pot and cook in a slow (250-325) oven for about 2 hours. This is great when made a day ahead. On the day you eat it put back in the oven to reheat.

The proportions for this recipe are entirely optional. You can make it as big or as little as you like, and you can make the seasoning more or less intense. But if you don't use mustard and Worchestershire sauce it's not the same.

Hamburger Buns

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1 pound flour
1 + teaspoon salt
1 cup lukewarm water
1 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 Tbl soft butter

Combine the flour salt and 1 cup water. Give a bit of a stir and let sit. In a small bowl combine the sugar, yeast, and 1/2 cup water and leave to bubble up. When proofed add to the flour, add the butter and process in the mixer until the dough is soft and does not stick to the sides. If it is too dry, add a little water. If it is too wet, add a little flour. Tweak it intil it’s just right. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and set in a warm place to rise to double in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When the dough is doubled, punch down and turn out onto a floured board. Knead a bit and then divide into 16 lumps of dough. Then make the dough balls into nice smooth balls and place on a grease surface. Cover with damp towel to let rise for about 45 minutes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 - 12 minutes. When cooled a bit, remove to a rack so they don’t get soggy bottoms. Cut in half. The hamburgers for this size bun should be about 3 ounces each.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

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Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
In a nice medium sized bowl cream:

1 stick of butter, softened a bit
1/2 cup sugar

Add:

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients:

10 ounces of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Add to the creamed mixture using a fork so that you don't over mix it. It wants to be just mixed, no smushing.

In a bowl combine:

1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, scoop out muffin dough an put it into the cinnamon and sugar mixture, maybe 6 at a time. Gently roll the blobs of dough in the mixture, and then into nice balls. Place in a muffin tin. Bake for about 10 minutes.

I also made tiny muffins using the 1 tablespoon scoop. These cook for a slightly shorter period of time.

When I make this recipe again I think that I will add 2/3 cup buttermilk instead of 1/2 cup. I think it just needs to be a bit moister and that's how I would try this change.

To be completely decadent you can roll the balls in butter before rolling in the sugar.

The Perfect Chocolate Cake

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I came across this cake at a friend’s house. She did not make it exactly the way I do, but I knew at the time that it was a great cake. It’s an often requested birthday cake, and I made for my oldest daughter’s wedding, as the second cake. Actually I asked a friend to make the layers for me. She is from Denmark. The other friend that I asked to help with the baking is French. My third friend who I consider to be a fabulous baker is German. And my very dear friend from England can make excellent pies. I do not have so may American friends who I consider to be good cooks. But there are two, Lynn Goodwin and Sue (who got remarried and I don’t know her last name). One of them gave me this recipe. I honestly don’t know which one. (I've since learned that it was Lynn who gave me the recipe)

It’s a classic american recipe and has been around a long time. Except all the other recipes put the whipped cream inside, and the butter cream on the outside. I’ve never wanted to do that. I think that the whipped cream would squish out.



Cake:

1 cup cocoa, best quality (80 gr)
2 cups boiling water

2 1/2 cups flour (11 oz)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup of butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Whipped Cream Frosting:

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar
 
Chocolate Butter Cream:

1 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate

2 1/2 cups icing sugar (10 oz)


Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease, paper, grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans. Stir together the cocoa and boiling water. Set aside to cool. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder, set aside.


In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the cooled cocoa mixture. Mix only until combined. Divide evenly between the three prepared pans, and spread the batter out flat.


Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool cakes on a wire rack.


Chocolate Butter Cream: In a microwavable bowl, put the semi-sweet chocolate, butter and cream, and place in microwave for about 2 minutes. After taking out of microwave stir until everything looks melted and well mixed. If not so, put back in microwave for a little bit. When well mixed, add to the icing sugar in an electric mixing bowl and continue to whip until very smooth. It will be runny looking. Just leave the beaters in the mixture, cover with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator or freezer until very solid, but not frozen.

When ready to assemble the cake, put the filling back in the mixer and with a good grip on the bowl, whip until very smooth and spreadable. The mixture will turn from dark brown, to a very pale brown.

I put the butter cream mixture between the layers of the cake and the put a very light coating all over the cake and put the cake into the refrigerator until ready to be served. There will probably be left-over butter cream. It is very good between graham crackers.


Whipped Cream Frosting: Put the whipping cream into an electric mixing bowl, add the beaters and put into the freezer for about 15 minutes. Remove from freezer and beat, adding the vanilla and sugar. Make the cream stiff, but not butter.

Get the cake out of the refrigerator and put most of the cream all over the cake, reserving some for piping however you please. Et Voila!