Rustic Apple Tart

Number one, witness the cuteness of Mommy-daughter cooking (Hiiiiii Mom). My Mom and I first made this recipe - sans measurement. It was super delicious and I had to make it again (with measurements)!

Makes approx. 16 personal sized tarts. feel free to half the recipe on the crust. 

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 c. chilled Crisco

4 - 8 ice water

Milk for brushing

Filling:

4 - 5 granny smith apples

2 nectarines or peaches or pears

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pumpkin spice

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

pinch of nutmeg

Topping:

2 tbsp sugar in the raw (optional)

4 tbsp butter, cut into 1/4 tbsp cubes (or 16 equal pieces)

DIRECTIONS:

Crust:

Blend/cut salt, flour, and cold Crisco into a course crumble. Sprinkle with half the recommended maximum amount of ice water.  Add more if needed. Tips perfect pie crust found HERE

Form into two equal sized disks and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 

Filling:

While the crust is chilling, wash fruit and cut up into uniform bite sized chunks (approx. 1/4 inch thick). Toss fruit into a large bowl and toss with lemon juice and set aside. 

In a medium sized bowl mix the sugar, cornstarch, zest and remaining spices - mix well. Next, this is important- because my Momma told me so... taste the mixture with a spoon or maybe a piece of cut up apple (yum). From doing this you can determine what spices you may need to add more of, if any. Do not add it to the fruit until you're ready to fill your tarts.

When the crusts are chilled cut each disk into 6-8 pieces and roll into balls.  Flatten the balls one at a time and roll out into tiny round crusts.  Place the flattened crusts on to parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together the "perfected" spice and sugar mixture with the cut up fruit and begin filling the tiny pie crusts. Fill the crusts in the middle and stack it high (approx 1/2 c.). Next, gently fold the pie crust up over the fruit. You only need to create a lip over the fruit so it won't loose all the juices during cooking, be careful not to tear the fragile crust. 

After all the tarts are made brush them with milk, drop a 1/4 tbsp cube of butter on top of the fruit and sprinkle with sugar in the raw.

Bake for 50 - 40 minutes until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. 

Notes: You can use whatever fruit you have on hand with the apples. I have made it with all the fruits I listed above. 

Crust Recipe: Crisco Classic Pie Crust

Filling Recipe: The Gregarious Glutton

Peach Fruit Leather

I have a sick love of peaches. So much so that I buy more than I could possibly eat before they go bad. So, I looked up a recipe for peach fruit leather and I found the easiest recipe ever.  Are you ready for it?

INGREDIENTS:
4 ripe peaches, skin on.
1 tbsp honey
(double as needed)

DIRECTIONS:

Oven: preheat to 225 degrees F. Pour the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spread evenly. Bake for 3 - 4 hours or until dry and not sticky to the touch. Remember cooking times with vary depending on how thick you spread your mixture. ( I would check every hour just to be safe) When you take the leather out of the oven it will look dry. Allow to cool and sit for several hours and it will soften up nicely.

Cut with a knife and peal away from parchment, or leave parchment on and make fruit roll ups.

Dehydrator: Spread evenly on trays and cook at 135 degrees for 5 hours. You may line with parchment or if you wish lightly oil the trays. wiping off excess with a paper towel. Let cool and peal away from the trays.

Recipe : Weelicious

Brown Butter Plum Upside Down Cake

I have a plum tree at my home that is HUGE. I have never been a big fan of eating the fruit raw and my sweet neighbor always makes plum jam from our tree and gives us a jar. So, I searched the  inter-web for a delicious plum recipe and boy oh boy did I find it!

The original recipe calls for black plums. I used the plums from my tree which has 3 different varieties and it turned out wonderful! I'm so glad I found a good plum recipe so I can make good use out of all the free produce I have!

The cake itself is a light and fluffy cinnamon cake (YUM) and the fruit is sweet and caramely (that's a word right?) with a hint of tart freshness. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs black plums, ripe but firm enough to cut easily

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter (1 stick for the cake, 1/2 stick for the brown butter sauce)

3/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.

Slice the plums 1/4 inches thick. Set aside.

In a cast iron skillet, heat four tablespoons of butter (1/2 stick). Melt butter and continue to brown. Click HERE for Eat Live Run's tutorial on brown butter. Once butter is browned immediately add in brown sugar and stir. Cook butter and sugar, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Then pour the sugar and butter mixture into a greased 9 inch cake pan. Spread evenly over the bottom of the cake pan. 

*FYI when I was finished mixing the brown butter and sugar "sauce" it didn't seem like much of a sauce to me. I tried it twice and both mixtures turned out the same; a glob of molten goo that I spread on the bottom of my pan. I was worried how this would turn out. It was delicious. When the cake is baking it melts and creates a caramel sauce, so, the glob of goo turns out delish - no worries* 

Arrange the sliced plums on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture. You should be able to get about 3 rows of plums, overlapping if necessary.

Next, cream together the remaining stick of butter with the granulates sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, mixing constantly. Then add the vanilla and mix until combined.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture alternating between dry ingredients and milk. Beat until light and fluffy.

Spread the cake batter right on top of the plums. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool for 3 minutes. As Jenna from  Eat Live Run  says: say a quick prayer and flip the cake plan onto a large serving plate. Amen! 

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

NOTES:

See * for brown butter sauce.

Recipe from a wonderful blog Eat Live Run

Fruit Pizza

This are such a delicious dessert when you're in a pinch. It's much less difficult than a tart and so much more fun than regular ol' cupcakes or cookies. This recipe combines store bought and home made items.

INGREDIENTS:
1 package/tube of sugar cookie dough
1- 6 oz. cup of strawberry yogurt (low fat is fine)
1 tub of Cool Whip or equivalent (thaw in refrigerator ahead of time)
ANY FRUIT OF YOUR CHOICE - these are just examples of what I love on a fruit pizza.
1 fresh pineapple
1 pkg of strawberries
2-3 kiwis
1 pkg of blueberries
1 pkg of raspberries

DIRECTIONS:
First preheat your oven to the temperature that your brand of cookie dough specifies. If you are using a pan to create a large pizza spread/smush cookie dough out on to the pan; leaving an inch or more of room on the edges for the cookie to grow. (trust me, I've learned the hard way) Cook the large cookie at the same time and temperature that you would cook individual cookies. Let cool completely.

Start prepping your fruit while the cookie cools. I usually try to slice my fruit to a 1/4 inch or less in thickness.

Fold together the tub of Cool whip with one 6 oz. cup of strawberry yogurt. Set aside.

When the cookie has cooled completely spread the Cool Whip and yogurt mixture over the entire cookie, edges and all! Then the rest is up to you. I like everyone to get a piece of each fruit in ever slice so I put my fruit out in rings starting with the outside and working in.

NOTE:
When I made the large pizza shown in this picture I used two packages of cookie dough. The pan shown was approx. 16 inches.
Some other fruit options are:
Bananas
Apples
Melons
Blackberriess
Mangos
AND you can also change the flavor of the spread by changing the flavor of yogurt you use. YUM.