Hot n' Cold: Apple Pie à la mode!

"A warm apple pie is good but make it à la mode, it'll be even better. It will be nostalgic."

~Try making it now and I'm sure you'll be getting positive reviews as I did! :)

Apple Pie (à la mode) Recipe

Pie Crust
3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. shortening, cold
3/4 cups unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup iced water
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
coarse sanding sugar (optional)

Apple Filling
3 large apples, peeled and cored
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice (you can substitute white vinegar if you want)
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
pinch of salt

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Make the Pie Crust:
1.) Combine all the ingredients, except water, using a fork or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2.) Add the iced water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together.

3.) Divide it into two equal parts and flatten into disks. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

Make the Apple Filling:
1.) Slice the apples thinly. In a large bowl, mix all of the filling ingredients.

2.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease six to twelve 5-inch-diameter molds.

3.) Roll out the dough to about 1/8" thick and cut out with a round cutter slightly larger than the mold.

4.) Form crust into the prepared molds and brush the rims with egg wash.

5.) Chill for about 15 to 20 minutes or until firm.

6.) Fill each of the chilled crusts with apple filling and bake for 1 hour or until the filling is bubbly and tops are golden brown.

7.) Serve warm. Preferably a la mode. You can drizzle it with caramel sauce or maple syrup if you want. Enjoy! :)

Apple Pie a la Mode drizzled with maple syrup. :)

Corn Muffin Recipe

Here's my favorite of all I've ever baked, corn muffins ♥. I guarantee you that this muffins are so good and will not be like anything you've ever tasted! It is best to eat them after cooling for several minutes on a wire rack. In that way you will have muffins that are crunchy on top, but soft, moist, and creamy inside. :)

Corn Muffin (makes 15 to 16 muffins)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup corn syrup, (you can also substitute glucose or honey)
2 eggs
2/3 cups plus 2 Tbsp. sugar (omit the 2 Tbsp. sugar if using honey)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
5 to 8 drops yellow food coloring
1 can whole kernel corn, strained and juice kept
6 to 8 Tbsp. powdered milk

To make the batter:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease one muffin pan and line with cupcake liners.

2.) Cream the butter until light and fluffy and then mix in the corn syrup. Add five drops of yellow food coloring (you can always add more depending on how yellow you want your corn muffins to be) then add the sugar, and the eggs.

3.) Mix until well blended.

 

4.) The original recipe calls for plain or whole milk but I like to make the corn taste stand out  even more and at the same time, taste the creaminess of the milk. So to make the milk, mix the juice from 1 can of whole corn kernels and the powdered milk. (you just need half a cup of this so you can save the remaining milk for another batch of corn muffins) 

5.) Add the flour, corn meal, baking powder, and salt. Mix while adding the milk.

 6.) Fold in half of corn kernels into the mixture. (Save the other half for another batch)

7.) Fill each cup with the corn muffin batter and bake for 25 minutes or until light golden brown.

8.) Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Happy eating! :)

Corn Muffins and Macaroni Soup topped with basil.

Fulfilled.

Hay. I feel fulfilled, although I have not finished a lot of schoolwork these past few days. It's because I've been baking :) I've made apple pies, a chocolate lemon cheesecake, corn muffins,  and chocolate blackberry cheesecake. love! I'll be making apple pies tonight so anytime soon I'll be posting the step-by-step recipe, with pictures for those who want to make delicious apple pies. :)

My Apple Pie a la Mode

Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake

Cheese Tarts by EMC ♥

Cheese Tart ♥

I've always wanted to make sweets. Cakes, pastries, name it. But I haven't had the proper education. The techniques, the basics. I just watch cooking shows or browse the Internet for recipes. But that doesn't stop me from dreaming that one day, I would be a top-class pastry chef. I too would be making my own recipes for other people to try and I too would be making sweets that will make other people happy just like how sweets make me happy.

This is the first time I've ever made a cheese tart. Well I've tried making a cheesecake (Bobby Flay's Caramel Apple Cheesecake) but it failed to pass the standard (my standard :D). So I felt disappointed and discouraged. I thought to myself,"What was I thinking --trying to make a cheesecake that Bobby Flay did? I'm not even a pastry chef yet."

Then one day when my mom came home from Tagaytay, she had pasalubong with her. Langka tarts, Lengua de gato, and Blueberry Cheese Tarts. And so, the sweets-lover I am, I immediately opened the box and ate one of the cheese tarts. I should say that it was really good--"parang mini cheesecake!". Immediately, I felt restless inside with a lot of excitement. I told myself,"kailangan ko ring makagawa nito!".
Since I already have a cream cheese filling recipe that I made --from my walnut swirl brownie recipe--all I needed was how to make the dough. So when I found a recipe on the Internet, I started making my cheese tarts. The recipe said that I should use butter but instead I used shortening because I thought we're all out of butter.

The first batch of cheese tarts I made turned out to be a disaster. I can't even unmold the tarts because the crust kept breaking or crushing when I tried to, but I still managed to eat them (hahaha). I eventually found out that we still had half a cup of butter left (kainis!) when I refrigerated the tarts. It turns out that when I expose them to a cold temperature, it would be easier to get them out of the molds.

With the half cup of butter I found in the fridge, I had my second shot at making cheese tarts. And so, after they were baked, I let them cool in the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes--trying my best not to be impatient this time. Still waiting until just a few seconds left.. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and my cheese tarts are done!

Well I don't want to brag but, I must say they taste heavenly! :)