Easy Apple Berry Cobbler

I have to start by saying that I think cobbler is my new favorite dessert. In the past I have posted a cherry/peach cobbler, that is just delicious with a hint of almond extract, I recently posted an apple cobbler, that amazes me with its ease of assembly, and now I am about to give you this recipe for an apple-berry cobbler. And when you try this you will probably decide you are in love with cobblers, too.
What is there not to love about a dessert that you throw together and throw in the oven? It holds up perfectly for a few days and it can look like a four-year-old did it and everybody is ok with that. Its stress free, mess free, and budget friendly. Sounds like the perfect man dessert.
I tweaked the original recipe just a bit. I made it in a casserole dish that is smaller than a 9x13. More like a7x11 or a pie dish. I also added cardamom, which you can skip altogether or substitute with some star anise, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon. But I suggest you try the cardamom.
Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

Apple-Berry Cobbler

Filling
1 1/2 lb apples (like pink lady, fuji, gala)
5 oz berries (about 1 cup) -use blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, or a mixture

4 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons butter cut into small pieces
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Biscuits

1/4 cup corn meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons chilled butter
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375. In your baking dish, combine apples, berries, sugar, cornstarch, honey, butter, lemon juice and cardamom and toss to evenly distribute.

Biscuit topping

Combine cornmeal, bakign powder, salt, flour, and sugar in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until coarse lumps form. Add buttermilk and pulse a few more times, until mixture comes together. Scoop out about a quarter cup of the mixture and pat it into a circle. Drop on top of your apple-berry mixture. Sprinkle biscuits with sugar.
Bake 40-50 minutes.

SAAC- Stinkin Awesome Apple Cobbler

I have a confession to make. I have never made apple cobbler. I thought I had, but I hadn't.  I thought that a cobbler was a pie with no bottom crust. Boy, was I wrong. I saw it on The Chew, and I fell in love. I actually really like that show and try to record it. Partly because of my food crush on Michael Symon, and partly because I like food. And I like to laugh. This show has all of my favorite things. When I saw the cobbler, I just tucked it away in the back of my mind. A few days later, I was making Sunday Lunch (which is a big deal around here-the boys have a hard time deciding whether its lunch or dinner, because its lunchtime but dinner food-you see how that can be confusing)

Apple Turnovers

A few months back, on our trip out of town, I determined that the next time we go on any sort of vacation that includes a hotel stay  I am going to pack some ground coffee and my French press coffee maker. I am one of those people that has to eat breakfast, and I have to drink coffee. Not just any coffee, but good coffee. When we are on vacation, my husband usually sleeps in and I wake up at some ungodly hour and watch TV. You know, something he doesn't want to watch like Food TV or maybe the History channel. I usually pick a hotel with breakfast because if I leave it up to him we won't eat until 11:00 and I will be cranky if I haven't had breakfast by then. We won't even talk about what I would be like without coffee until then. I usually make myself drink the hotel coffee, just trying to get some blood flowing, or I might meander down to the lobby and force myself to drink poor excuse for caffeine they have down there.
By the time we leave for the day I am in a slight coma, mumbling incoherently and sluggish. I try to find a Starbucks and hope that the baristas have been properly trained. After this repeated event, I made the previous decision. I am going to bring my own coffee. That is the one uncompromisable thing. The one thing that I do the same, every day, and vacation is just torture without it.
As I fervently make this vow to my husband, he grunts in a non-committal way. "Huh. Good idea." and turns back to whatever he was doing. I scowled at him for a moment, knowing that he could care less if he has breakfast or coffee.
There is something, though, that he cares about, and that's these apple turnovers. You can use frozen puff pastry if you would like, but homemade puff pastry is actually really easy and way cheaper than the frozen stuff.

Apple Turnovers

1 package puff pastry or 1/2 recipe homemade

Filling:

4   apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

Juice of 1/3 lemon

1 egg

Glaze:

1/4 cup light colored jelly (pomegranate, apricot, apple)

1/4 cup water

Cook filling over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes or until apples begin to soften.

Cut puff pastry  into 8 squares, fill with filling, crimping the edges. Combine egg with 1 Tablespoon of water and brush the tops. Cut 3 holes in the top.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until brown.

Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining the jelly and water in a saucepan over medium high heat, whisking until they are incorporated.

Brush the glaze over the turnovers as soon as they come out of the oven and dust with sanding sugar.

Stuffed or Dressed? (Stuffing)

I know many people who, oddly, don't care for stuffing that much. I say, what kind of stuffing have you had? I imagine it must be some horrible rendition in some horrid school cafeteria. Or perhaps your great-aunt made it with something you didn't like in it-raisins, oysters, celery, onion, etc. Which are not bad things, but if you don't like them or the way they are cooked it can ruin your stuffing experience.

I love stuffing. I know we really should call it dressing, because we never actually stuff the bird, but we always just call it stuffing. I love it and we only have it a few times a year! Recently I have begun making it when we have a roasted chicken, which happens several times a year, and also when we have ham (a twice-a-year occasion). I like it anyway it comes. I even order turkey dinners at restaurants because I just love stuffing and gravy! At a restaurant I worked at, we served several Thanksgiving banquets the week of, and the sous-chef knew of my affair with stuffing and saved me a large portion each time. I still ate plenty on Thanksgiving! A few years ago, I discovered an absolutely delicious stuffing recipe, and it has become a family favorite. It has bulk sage sausage, apples and cranberries in it. I always make one pan of that stuffing, and one pan of plain (for the unadventurous). I usually have none of the sage stuffing left. You can make the stuffing with a box mix, and just add the additional ingredients, or make it from old bread that you baked in the oven until its dried. If you use your own bread, just saute some finely chopped onions and carrots with the sausage, and season with salt and pepper.
I make this early in the day on Thanksgiving, and I put it all in a pan, cover with foil, and reheat while the Turkey is resting. I know I have mentioned Thanksgiving a lot, but I think its time we serve stuffing all throughout the year, instead of making it wait until Thanksgiving to make its appearance on our table. Let us have a stuffing revival!
 
Sage Stuffing
1 lb sage sausage (homemade or purchased)
2 boxes stuffing mix, any brand
-either
4 cups water
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon,
-or
4 cups homemade chicken broth
2 small apples (crisp, sweet apples like gala, pink lady, fuji or jazz are best)
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Brown sausage in a large pot over medium-high heat.. Add apples and cook, stirring for about 1 minute. Add stuffing mix, dried cranberries, water and bouillon (or homemade chicken stock), and turn off heat. After thoroughly combined, transfer to a 9x13 glass baking dish. You can cover and reheat at 350 for about 25 minutes.

An Apple a Day

Now that fall is here, and apples are in season, are you eating your apple a day? Well, there are a few ways you can do that, and one of them is this delicious caramel apple cake. The day I saw the recipe in a magazine, I decided I would make it, first chance I got. My husband's birthday is in October, so when I was planning his birthday dinner, I asked if he would like to try it. He was game.

 I made the recipe almost exactly the way it said to, but I didn't have a three-inch cake pan (and I was a bit short on time) so I turned them into muffins instead of a whole cake. I wouldn't make their caramel sauce (much too tedious and its not that good...) I would make this one instead. The addition of orange juice to the batter is great, and the use of baking powder and baking soda makes these muffins puff up very nicely.

The jist of the dessert goes like this: lay some apple pieces in the bottom of each muffin cup, pour in cake batter. While its baking, make the sauce. Pop out muffins, pour sauce on. This is my condensed version. Their version takes 2 1/2 hours, mine, about 30 minutes.

You decide.


Caramel Apple Muffins

1 Recipe Caramel Sauce

For the batter

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 cup sour cream
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
4 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease muffin pan.
Combine all cake batter ingredients, except for the apples, in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides. Add apples and fold in.
Divide batter between muffin pans. Bake for 15-25 minutes. Test for doneness.
Meanwhile, prepare caramel sauce.
Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes. Turn out onto plates or serving platter. Top each muffin with a ladle full of caramel sauce.

The Go-To Dinner: Pork Chops

We love to have company over and there is one meal I make more than any other when we have people over: Pork chops. Not just any pork chops, pork chops with apples. When I was a kid, I remember my dad talking about eating pork chops with applesauce. I thought that was pretty disgusting. Right up there with creamed tuna on toast and 'ramen-a-la-dada' (trust me, you don't want to know). Alright, I'll tell you. Ramen noodles cooked as usual and accompanied by cut-up hard-boiled eggs, mixed frozen vegetables and soy sauce. Not a big fan.
Anyway, back to the pork chops. As a young teenager, I made sure nothing on my plate touched the other items on my plate. I hated it when people served me and the mashed potatoes were touching the corn, and the gravy from my Salisbury steak was rushing to meet my buttered piece of wheat bread. Yucky! Or so I thought. When I began cooking as an adult, I realized some of the delicious unions that occur when foods meet.

I am not talking about those bland, tough chops with mealy applesauce smeared on top. This, I assure you, is not the meal I am describing to you. This meal is easily and quickly prepared, looks amazing and impresses every time. Don't you wish all meals went like that?
For starters, the pork chops are 'cured' in a mixture of salt, brown sugar and rosemary, that imparts a wonderful depth of flavor  and allows the pork chops to cook quickly and retain their moisture.
Secondly, the chops are fried in bacon grease. Now, if you are not in the habit of keeping bacon grease, get into it! Green beans, eggs, breaded zucchini and more reach astronomical levels when fried in bacon grease. Before you know it, you will be eating it with your breakfast cereal (ok, maybe not).
Then, you cook peeled apple pieces in the leftover grease with a bit of chicken stock, cinnamon and apricot jam. the emerging sauce has a hint of sweetness and gives you that magical union of fruit and meat. My husband asks for this meal at least every few weeks, and is always elated to find it on the menu for dinner.
I assure you, you will come back to this recipe time and time again-whether its to impress company, a quick weeknight dinner, or a way to use those lonely apples sitting on your counter.
Trust me.

Pan Fried Pork Chops with Glazed Apples

Serves 4
2 Tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
4 Thin-cut pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick each)
Freshly ground pepper
1 Tablespoon bacon grease, plus more if needed
2 Small to medium crisp apples such as honey crisp, gala, pink lady, Fuji or jazz, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 Cups chicken stock
1/3 Cup apricot jam
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or another if you don't have it)

Combine the brown sugar, kosher salt, and rosemary in a small bowl and stir together. Coat the pork chops on both sides with the mixture, gently massaging the meat with your fingers to jump start the curing process. Let stand for 15 minutes. Rinse the chops and pat dry with paper towels. Season the chops on both sides with pepper to taste.
Melt the 1 tablespoon bacon grease in a large heavy skillet over high heat, add the pork chips, and cook until crispy brown, about 2 minutes on each side.
Transfer the pork chops to a plate and cover with foil. Add the apples to the skillet and cook, stirring gently to brown slightly, about 30 seconds, adding a bit more bacon grease if the pan is dry. Add the stock, jam, vinegar and cinnamon and stir well. Cook until the sauce thickens and is rich brown in color, about 10 minutes. (Don't cook down the sauce too much, but if you do, simply add a little more stock.)
Uncover the pork chops and top with the glazed apples.
For a beautiful and festive variation, add 1/4-1/2 cup of dried cranberries when you add the stock.
We like to eat this with Green Beans....

Morning or evening

There is something decidedly comforting about having breakfast for dinner. I don't believe the same can be said about having dinner for breakfast. I am one of those people that loves breakfast. If we go out any time before noon I want to eat breakfast out. I love places like the waffle shop where I can get potatoes, eggs, some sort of breakfast meat with biscuits and gravy. During my last pregnancy I absolutely craved eggs over easy with toast. Not something I usually eat, but it sure sounded good.
Whenever I read about a new recipe for breakfast food, I just have to try it. I have come across so many delicious recipes, I almost can't decide what to make at times.
The sad thing is, my husband doesn't share my affinity for breakfast. I love it all: scones, waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, casseroles, baked eggs in cream, eggs benedict, bagels, biscuits and gravy, stratas, frittatas, french toast, oatmeal, cold cereal, breakfast breads, muffins, cinnamon rolls, coffee, orange juice, omelettes, donuts, breakfast burritos, fried potatoes, bagel sandwiches, english muffins, etc. Really, the list could go on and on. My husband, on the other hand, doesn't really like eggs for breakfast. If it was up to him he wouldn't even eat breakfast. I have convinced him it is healthier for him to eat breakfast than to skip it, but he normally doesn't eat that much and he normally just wants carbs.

So, we end up eating a lot of things like pancakes, waffles, muffins and breakfast breads. I am always trying different pancake recipes, I have made pumpkin pancakes, sweet potato pancakes, oatmeal pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes...you get the picture (I just really can't stand making the same things. It's a curse.)
I made pumpkin pancakes with cider syrup, and they were awesome. Then, I got a magazine that had apple cinnamon pancakes with cider syrup and I thought, 'I made those before' (I hadn't...children put holes in your memory). So, anyway, the recipe said to use grated apple. As I thought about making these, grated apple didn't appeal to me. I have peeled and cut up apple and put it in pancakes, but envisioning grating an apple was doing strange things to my desire to make these pancakes. I thought about just peeling, coring, and dicing an apple, then running in the food processor until a little lightbulb in my head went on *ding*. I have applesauce in the fridge, how about just subbing that? So, with a few alterations, (changing a few of the spices and upping the amount of applesauce) these pancakes were born.
I have made them two more times since (that was last week...) and everybody loves them. My son asks for 'mancakes' and the kids squeal when they start coming off the griddle...the cider syrup really adds a delicious flavor. It tastes exactly the way you would expect. Now, if you don't have pancake mix on hand, just make your favorite pancakes, and add the applesauce (don't change your recipe) and cinnamon, and top with the cider syrup. Fantastic!
Now, if I could just get them to last long enough to take a picture...

When greasing the griddle, I like to spray it with a non stick cooking spray (read: PAM) then put about a teaspoon of butter in also, to give the pancakes a nice buttery taste, without relying on the butter to keep it from sticking.

Ingredients
2 cups complete pancake mix
1-1/2 cups water
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


CIDER SYRUP:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup apple cider or juice
2 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

In a small bowl, stir the pancake mix, water, apple and cinnamon just until moistened.
Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top. Cook until second side is golden brown.
Meanwhile, for syrup, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in cider until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Serve with pancakes. Yield: 12 pancakes (1-1/4 cups syrup)