Tag: cinnamon

Bread will ‘apple’solutely get you ready for fall

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date September 3, 2020

Apple butter bread has lots of fall spices and is a great breakfast or dessert.

I remember once spending an entire afternoon helping my mom make applesauce. My sister and I loved the apple-peeling machine that cut each apple into cool spirals, and we took turns manning the crank.

Mom was at the stove, cooking down the sliced apples and then ladling it off into containers as the applesauce was finished.

We thought it was so cool. I think our freezer was full of containers of applesauce for quite awhile—we were probably a lot more excited about making it than eating it, I’d guess. But I always remember that as such a fun experience, and the taste of any kind of baked apples has always been high on my list.

I’ve had an unopened jar of apple butter in my pantry for a few months now. If you don’t know, apple butter is really just super-concentrated applesauce. It’s cooked down even more to give it that pretty brown color. It’s fantastic on toast, but I kept thinking I could do something special with this jar, and that’s when I came across this week’s recipe.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “KJ and Company.” You can find the original at https://kjandcompany.co/2019/09/21/spiced-apple-butter-bread/. I added more vanilla and extra spices in my version.

Apple Butter Bread

Apple butter bread has lots of fall spices and is a great breakfast or dessert.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Keyword apple butter, cinnamon, cloves, gingerbread, quick bread

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter melted
1 cup apple butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper and spraying it with cooking spray (cut the parchment so it lines the bottom and goes up the long sides of the pan to hang out over the edges).
In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, apple butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the rest of the ingredients until everything is combined well.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
Slice it (it’s easier to slice once it’s cooled completely) and store in an airtight container.

If it didn’t feel like September before I started baking this bread, it definitely did by the time I was finished. My whole kitchen smelled like warm, fall spices, and I was practically ready to go grab a cardigan.

This was a nice, lightly spiced quick bread that we ate both as a dessert and for breakfast, and we really enjoyed it. I actually doubled the recipe so we could share with the office, and it went over well there, too.

And it was also a lot easier to let somebody else make the apple butter instead of that long afternoon of applesauce-making with Mom all those years ago. I’m all for cooking completely from scratch, but sometimes a jar is a nice addition to a recipe.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 3, 2020.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Tags apple butter, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, quick bread

Uncategorized

It’s ‘butter’ to double check ingredients

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 30, 2020

Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They're perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.

One of the habits my mom taught me when I was first learning to bake is to go back through a recipe before popping something into the oven.

Giving each ingredient a once-over to make sure nothing was left out is a good idea, since you inevitably realize you forgot something when the mixture has already been in the oven for several minutes.

Normally, I follow her advice. I skim through the ingredients, creating a mental checklist to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. Of course, I also tend to get in a hurry and forget from time to time.

Such was the case this weekend when I went to quickly bake a batch of donuts for some house guests before they headed out of town.

The donuts were out of the oven, cooling in the pan, when my friend opened the microwave to reveal a little bowl of melted butter that should have been mixed into the donut batter.

The good news: they were still delicious, so I’m going to share this recipe with you even though I didn’t completely follow it correctly.

This recipe comes from the blog “Baker by Nature.” You can find the original at https://bakerbynature.com/coffee-cake-donuts-with-vanilla-glaze/. I added a ton more cinnamon to the recipe and left off the vanilla glaze, because I didn’t think the donuts needed even more sugar and calories.

Coffeecake Donuts

Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They're perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Keyword baked, cinnamon, coffeecake, donuts

Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

2 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Donut Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sour cream I substituted non-fat plain Greek yogurt
2 1/2 tablespoons butter melted
1 egg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a six-well donut baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
In a small bowl, cut together the topping ingredients until it’s well combined into small crumbs.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, sour cream, butter and egg until just combined.
Spoon the batter into the donut pan, distributing it evenly between the wells. Now evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the the tops of each donut.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the donuts spring back when you touch them lightly (mine ended up taking 12 minutes).
Let the donuts cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then gently remove them and serve.

These were really, really good, and I was glad I decided to skip the extra glaze. They were perfect without it.

And even though I left out the butter, they were still tasty. I’m guessing they would have been a bit moister if I would have put it in, but you could probably get away with leaving it out, too, if you wanted.

I learned yet again that it’s important to go over my ingredients list before popping something into the oven. As ever, my mom is always right, even if I did end up with some delicious donuts.

This piece first appeared in print on July 30, 2020.

Tags baked, cinnamon, coffeecake, donuts

Dessert

Amazing cake recipe is raising the ‘barb’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date June 11, 2020

Rhubarb cake is sweet and moist and features the flavors of coconut and cinnamon along with fresh rhubarb.

A couple years ago, my folks moved into a house that had a huge garden of rhubarb in the backyard.

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if that was an even trade for missing out on the mulberry trees I used to be able to exploit at my childhood home, but I’ve been meaning to figure out what to do with rhubarb since they moved in.

So, a couple weekends ago, my mom helped me chop off a bunch of long stalks, and I brought them home to see what I could do. After letting them sit in my fridge for a bit, I decided to try a cake from my recipe box that I’d never made before, one from my paternal grandma and one I can’t remember the last time I got to have.

And it was awesome.

The recipe I’m sharing this week comes from my grandma, Tillie Miller. I can’t tell you where she got it originally, but it was my grandpa’s favorite, and I think she made it long enough that it became her recipe. I did add a little extra cinnamon and vanilla in my version.

Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb cake is sweet and moist and features the flavors of coconut and cinnamon along with fresh rhubarb.

Course Dessert

Keyword cake, cinnamon, coconut, German frosting, moist, rhubarb

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

1 cup rhubarb diced finely
2 cups sugar divided
2 cups flour
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 cup milk with about 1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla

Frosting Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 cup chopped nuts I used walnuts

Instructions

Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan and set it aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the rhubarb in a bowl with 1/2 cup sugar and set it aside while combining the other ingredients. (If you’re worried about how sour your rhubarb is, give it a taste before adding the sugar. Mine was especially tart, so I added a few extra tablespoons of sugar just to be sure.)
Beat together the flour, remaining sugar, oil, egg, sour milk, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla until well-combined. Mix in the rhubarb.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
When the cake is almost done, combine all of the ingredients for the frosting in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the butter is melted and everything is well-combined. Pour the frosting evenly over the cake while it is still warm.
Store the cake in an air-tight container.

Despite having a particularly tart crop of rhubarb, this cake was sweet and delicious, with tons of fruit flavor along with coconut and cinnamon. We really enjoyed it, and my dad gave it his stamp of approval, too, so I think I did OK.

I tend to avoid rhubarb a lot of the time, since I’m not a big fan of sour fruits, but I really liked this. It had fantastic flavor.

I guess this means I might need to harvest a few more stalks from my folks’ garden this summer to try some other new recipes. I apparently like rhubarb more than I thought. I’m still really missing that mulberry tree, but a big slice of cake on my plate is helping me get over it.

This piece first appeared in print on June 11, 2020.

Tags cake, cinnamon, coconut, fresh fruit, German frosting, moist, nuts, rhubarb

Side Dish

You’ll be sweet on these roasted potatoes

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date December 19, 2019

Roasted sweet potatoes have just the right amount of sweetness to be a nice addition to dinner.

Despite it being the week before Christmas, I have yet to make my normal pile of sweets.

I generally bake at least a double batch of peppernuts, and there’s often something that requires melting almond bark in my double boiler and spreading waxed paper on every open counter space.

I actually have a variety of baking chips and some nuts already sitting out, ready to be mixed into some delicious treats, but I just haven’t gotten into my Christmas baking spirit yet.

But I did have some nice sweet potatoes sitting on my counter that I decided needed to be part of dinner this past week, which I suppose loosely counts as holiday cooking.

I wanted to make them as a side dish, and while I was a little nervous that the brown sugar in the recipe I chose would produce something more dessert-like, I was pleasantly surprised. It had just enough sweetness to highlight the flavor of the potatoes but not enough to make you feel like adding some whipped cream on top.

I found this recipe on the blog “Wine and Glue.” It’s by Lisa Longley. You can find it at https://www.wineandglue.com/brown-sugar-roasted-sweet-potatoes. This was such a simple, straight-forward recipe that I didn’t change it from her original. Also, don’t let the cayenne pepper make you nervous, it just enhances the flavors rather than making the overall dish spicy.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Roasted sweet potatoes have just the right amount of sweetness to be a nice addition to dinner.

Course Side Dish

Keyword brown sugar, cayenne, cinnamon, roasted, sweet potatoes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or margarine melted
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt to taste
2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut in half-inch cubes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy cleanup.
Dump the cubed potatoes and all the ingredients onto the pan and mix together with a spoon or your hands until the potatoes are evenly coated.
Spread the potatoes out evenly and bake about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the potatoes are fork tender.

The caramelization on these sweet potatoes was really pretty, and while I rarely peel any kind of potatoes for recipes, I think that was a good step in this case.

We ate these alongside some perfectly cooked steaks, and it was a fantastic dinner. There were also leftovers that reheated well out of the fridge for a later meal.

I’m sure I’ll find myself mixing up plenty of sugar-filled treats sometime in the next few days, filling my plastic containers with all kinds of goodies to share.

The smell of anise, cloves and cinnamon filling the house is one of my favorite parts of the holidays. I wish you luck with your own holiday baking (and eating) and a very, merry Christmas.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 19, 2019.

Tags brown sugar, cayenne, Christmas, cinnamon, roasted, sweet potatoes

Dessert Snack

‘Hummus’ give a strange combination a try

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date October 31, 2019

Banana bread hummus is a surprising twist on the normally savory dip made with chickpeas.

When I’m searching for recipes, I sometimes stumble across ideas that seem so weird that I’m completely compelled to try them.

This week’s recipe is one of those: banana bread hummus.

I have made hummus quite a number of times, and it’s a favorite for us, especially when we’re setting up a snack table for guests.

Our normal recipe is a traditional one with tahini, olive oil and tons of garlic, served with carrots and pita bread, so the thought of a sweet hummus recipe threw me for a loop, but I also knew I had to give it a try if for no other reason to just say that I did.

So if you’re like me and enjoy trying weird, new ideas, this is the recipe for you.

This comes from the blog “Make the Best of Everything.” You can find the original post at https://makethebestofeverything.com/2015/09/banana-bread-hummus/. I added extra cinnamon and vanilla and left a hint in the recipe to sweeten the hummus up, if necessary.

Banana Bread Hummus

Banana bread hummus is a surprising twist on the normally savory dip made with chickpeas.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword banana, chickpeas, cinnamon, hummus

Ingredients

15.5- ounce can of chickpeas rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup walnuts roughly chopped, plus more for topping
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until it’s smooth. If the mixture isn’t quite smooth enough, add a little more coconut oil to get it to the consistency you like.
Also, I’d recommend taste testing this, and if your bananas weren’t quite sweet enough, you might add a little powdered sugar or a sugar substitute to sweeten it to your liking (I wouldn’t recommend regular sugar, since that might make it taste a bit grainy).
Top with some more walnuts and serve with vanilla wafers or animal crackers for dipping.

Truth be told, I don’t think banana bread hummus is going to be on my regular rotation for snacks, but we enjoyed it at a game night with friends. Also, any time I can get ahold of a reason to eat more vanilla wafers, I’m in.

It was a bit tough to get past the idea of eating a sweet dip made with chickpeas, I thought.

It also would be a good snack for someone looking for a wheat-free, egg-free option to enjoy the flavors of banana bread, especially if you can find a good gluten-free cookie to go with it.

I won’t be ready to give up on the classic garlic-y hummus any time soon, but it’s fun to go outside of your comfort zone with ingredients and see what you can do.

Sometimes, the results can be surprising.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 31, 2019.

Tags banana, chickpea, cinnamon, hummus, walnuts

Dessert

Brownies prove spices not ‘cinnamon’ous with fall

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date September 12, 2019

Mexican cinnamon brownies have a very simple spice mix of cinnamon, sugar and vanilla and are an addictive, easy dessert.

“It smells like fall in here,” Joey announced this weekend when he came home to the scent of fresh cinnamon brownies in our kitchen.

I forget that cinnamon normally evokes a cold weather feeling from people. I’ll eat it any time of year. Find me some cinnamon ice cream, and I’d be all in.

But I suppose the waning days of summer put me in the mindset to grab my big shaker of cinnamon out of the pantry to try a new recipe.

I wasn’t initially certain what made these Mexican cinnamon brownies rather than just cinnamon brownies, but the recipe’s author explains in his post that cinnamon is widely used in Mexican cooking and these brownies would be a good dessert to show up at a Cinco de Mayo party, and that explanation was good enough for me.

I found this recipe on the website “One How To.” The recipe is by Max D. Gray. You can find the original at https://food.onehowto.com/recipe/how-to-make-mexican-cinnamon-brownies-10574.html. I fixed up some of the directions to make them more clear and added extra cinnamon.

Mexican Cinnamon Brownies

Mexican cinnamon brownies have a very simple spice mix of cinnamon, sugar and vanilla and are an addictive, easy dessert.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword brownies, cinnamon

Ingredients

2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 340 degrees.
Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside (an easy trick is to use the empty butter wrappers from the recipe to grease it).
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla.
Beat in the flour, baking powder and salt until the mixture is smooth and everything is completely incorporated.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and then evenly sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the top (in full disclosure, I just used a spoon and sprinkled both until I felt satisfied I had good coverage, so I likely used a bit more cinnamon than is listed in the ingredients list).
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the brownies cool for about 20 minutes and then slice into bars and store in an airtight container.

As Joey pointed out, these made the whole house smell amazing, so if you’re having an open house and want to use the trick where you bake something right before people come over, tuck this recipe away.

They were great warm, but right out of the oven, I thought the cinnamon didn’t come through as much as I would have liked. I was vindicated the next morning, after they sat in their airtight container over night, when the cinnamon flavor popped perfectly in each bite.

They’re also the perfect texture to carry around and eat—no plates or forks required.

So maybe I’m pushing into fall spices too quickly in the year, but I figure any desserts that are good fodder for a Cinco de Mayo party can’t possibly only belong to autumn.

Now to see if cinnamon ice cream really does exist.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 12, 2019.

Tags brownies, cinnamon, Mexican

Dessert Uncategorized

You’ll love this recipe from the bottom of your ‘tart’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date March 29, 2018

A rustic apple tart is easy on the eyes and the taste buds. It would be perfect with a scoop of ice cream.

There’s something intimidating about pastry. It’s hard to roll out perfect circles or to put it into pie pans without it cracking.

Plus, there are just too many people online who are true artists with dough, and that is extremely intimidating when I start hunting for new recipes.

The recipe I tried this week, though, is meant to look a little rough around the edges, and I managed to create something that looked delicious without worrying at all about getting fancy with my crust.

This recipe’s author is Jenn Segal. She used to work as a professional chef and has a cookbook, “Once Upon a Chef.” You can find this on her blog by the same name at https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/rustic-french-apple-tart.html. I doubled the vanilla and cinnamon in my version.

Rustic Apple Tart

A rustic apple tart is easy on the eyes and the taste buds. It would be perfect with a scoop of ice cream.

Course Dessert

Keyword apple, pastry, tart

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup cold water

Filling Ingredients

4 cups peeled baking apples cut into 1/8-inch slices (I used honeycrisp)
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 rounded teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter melted
1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping Ingredients

About 1 tablespoon flour
1 egg beaten
About 1 tablespoons sugar turbinado or regular
1 tablespoon apricot jelly

Instructions

For the crust, pulse the flour, salt and sugar together a couple times in a food processor to combine them. Cube the butter and add it to the food processor and process until it’s about pea size. Add the water and pulse a few times until it’s just combined. (The dough will look very crumbly, but it’ll come together.)
Dump the dough mixture onto a floured counter and knead it until it comes together smoothly, adding more flour as necessary. Form it into a disk. Roll it out into about a 10-inch circle on the floured surface and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet with a rim.
Put it in the refrigerator while you peel and prep the apple mixture. Place the apple slices, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, butter and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine.
Remove the dough from the fridge and slide the parchment onto the counter. Roll it out to about 18 inches and about 1/8-inch thick, and slide it back onto the pan (it won’t fit very well, but that’s no worry).
Sprinkle about a tablespoon of flour onto the dough and then place the apples in concentric circles, overlapping them as you go. Leave about two inches around the edge of the circle.
Fold the sides of the dough towards the center of the tart. It’ll create a two-inch rim around it and an opening in the middle. Pinch it together at the seams so it’ll stay put. Brush the dough with the beaten egg and then sprinkle the whole tart with the sugar.
Bake for about an hour or until the apples are soft and the crust is a golden brown.
Transfer the tart to a rack and let it cool. Combine the apricot jelly with 1-1/2 teaspoons water in a small bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds. Stir and brush onto the tart.
Cut into slices and serve warm.

Our whole house smelled amazing while this tart was baking, and I was so proud of myself when it came out of the oven. It looked fantastic.

I’ll have to keep this one in my recipe box for any time I want to impress guests with a “fancy” dessert but don’t want to stress over making one.

And I suppose if someone thinks it looks a little too unpolished, I’ll remind them that the word “rustic” is right there in the recipe title, so I clearly did everything right.

This piece first appeared in print on March 29, 2018.

Tags apple, cinnamon, pastry, tart

Dessert

Vintage recipe will be ‘raisin’ spirits in no time

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 8, 2018

War cake comes from the era of wartime rationing, when eggs, butter and milk were scarce, but it doesn’t skimp on flavor.

Recently, I scrolled through Pinterest—as I often do—looking for recipes that I could try. A picture of a well-worn, yellowed piece of paper caught my eye. It was a handwritten recipe with the words “War Cake” written in a beautiful script across the top of the page.

I was intrigued by it and clicked on the link.

There, on a quilting website, I found a post from Marge Campbell of Littlefield, Texas, who recently used this recipe from her Aunt Almo Duncan Buren.

I’ve always loved history and especially the parts of historical events that don’t end up in textbooks.

War cake is one of those things. Recipes for cake during the World War I and II varied across different communities, but they had the same thing in common: they all use limited fats, limited milk and limited eggs, due to wartime shortages.

Much like depression-era cakes or desserts that people would make when times were rough, war cakes were something people could bake to help make life happier, despite having limited resources.

I read several articles on war cake. Many of the authors mentioned that not only was war cake something to be eaten at home in the States but something that was eaten on the front as well, when families would send care packages to their soldiers overseas.

Considering how dense and moist this cake was when I made it, I could see how it would easily survive the journey to Europe.

That being said, even with no tie to history, this cake is pretty darn good.

I did find it takes a deceivingly long time to make this than other types of cake you may have made before. That is because you make a raisin mixture to start off with that will need to be cooled before you can continue with the rest of the steps. For that reason, some people may have this recipe in their cookbooks as a boiled raisin cake, too.

If you want to see Campbell’s original post and the copy of her aunt’s recipe, you can go to https://www.quiltingboard.com/recipes-f8/war-cake-wwii-recipe-t169745.html. I doubled the spices when I made it and added a lot more raisins.

War Cake

War cake comes from the era of wartime rationing, when eggs, butter and milk were scarce, but it doesn’t skimp on flavor.

Course Dessert

Keyword brown sugar, cake, cinnamon, raisins, ration recipe

Ingredients

2 cups packed brown sugar
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons shortening or lard
1 teaspoon salt
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cloves
10 ounces seedless raisins
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water
3 cups flour

Instructions

Begin by bringing the brown sugar, water, shortening, salt, cinnamon, cloves and raisins to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, let it continue to boil for about five minutes, stirring to make sure everything is well combined.
Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool completely before continuing to the next step.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the dissolved baking soda and flour to the raisin mixture and stir until completely combined.
Divide the mixture evenly between two loaf pans, and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Once the cakes are cooled enough to handle, remove them from the pans and cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

I gave quite a bit of this cake away, and it got rave reviews. It’s a simple flavor profile, but I think that’s what makes it so good. It’s one of those desserts that just makes you feel satisfied.

It’s a good reminder that, even in hard times, people find ways to make life happy.

As I enjoyed my first piece of war cake, I imagined all of the different families around the United States who enjoyed the same recipe or ones like it while dealing with so much stress and worry in their lives.

It just goes to show that sometimes a good recipe can make us forget about our troubles for a while.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 8, 2018.

Tags brown sugar, cake, cinnamon, raisins, ration recipe

Dessert

You won’t be‘weave’ this easy as pie recipe

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 11, 2018

Blueberry peach pie can be made with fresh or frozen fruit and looks a lot more complicated than it really is.

Years ago, when I was on summer staff at Camp Mennoscah, several staff members spent a bit of an afternoon harvesting tons of mulberries off of a couple trees.

This resulted in some time spent that afternoon in serious pie-baking mode, and it was the first time I ever saw a latticed pie top made from start to finish.

To be honest, it ruined the magic a little for me, because it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, but the pie was yummy enough to bring some of the enchantment right back again.

I don’t make fruit pies all that often, so I haven’t tried my hand at too many lattice tops since, but I got the chance again recently for the recipe I’m sharing with you this week for a blueberry peach pie.

Obviously, fresh peaches and blueberries are tough to come by this time of year, so although the recipe calls for fresh ones, I’ll tell you that I made my pie with frozen fruit.

If you’d like to give this a shot before fresh fruit is back in season, make sure you fully thaw your frozen fruit and then leave it in a colander for quite awhile until you’re sure it’s done giving off all of its extra moisture. (This will take awhile—maybe a couple hours. Be patient.)

I also added about a tablespoon or so of cornstarch to my fruit to really make sure that any juices were congealed and wouldn’t end up making a soggy pie, and I spooned it into my crust so that I didn’t accidentally pour in any more juice that gathered at the bottom of the bowl I had it in.

This recipe came from the blog “Sally’s Baking Addiction.” You can find the original at https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/06/14/blueberry-peach-pie/. I played with the spices in mine, and as I already noted, I used frozen fruits instead of fresh.

Blueberry Peach Pie

Blueberry peach pie can be made with fresh or frozen fruit and looks a lot more complicated than it really is.

Course Dessert

Keyword blueberry, peach, pie

Ingredients

2 pie crusts homemade or store-bought, chilled
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3 cups fresh peaches sliced and peeled
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg beaten
sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Fold the fruit in with the sugar, flour, cinnamon and all-spice.
Roll out one of the pie crusts and line an eight- or nine-inch pie pan with it.
Spoon in the fruit mixture. Cut the butter into small pieces and dot it along the top of the filling.
Roll out the second crust and either place it on the top and cut several steam vents in it after crimping it together with the bottom crust or cut the dough into long strips and weave a lattice top on the pie, crimping the edges with the bottom crust when you’re finished.
Brush the top with a thin layer of the beaten egg and sprinkle on some additional sugar and cinnamon to your taste.
Bake on a baking sheet lined with foil (you don’t want to clean this out of the bottom of the oven—or off the baking sheet, for that matter) for 20 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes.
Let the pie cool before serving (or serve it while warm, but be ready for runny filling).

If you’re feeling a bit intimidated by making a lattice crust, don’t be, and if you need some guidance, I’d recommend searching for a tutorial video on YouTube. You’re bound to find dozens.

And for those who don’t know quite how easy a lattice top is, be ready to hear how impressed they are with your pie handiwork, and even if you don’t give it a shot, the pie is good enough to get you accolades either way.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 11, 2018.

Tags blueberry, cinnamon, peaches, pie