Herself's Recipes

“As American as Apple Pie”, but the pie itself it believed to have been invented in Egypt and the Romans brought the idea home and spread it around Europe. Most early pies were meat not fruit. Fruit pies showed up in England in the 1500s.

Some of the better choices for apples for your pie are: Rome Beauty, Granny Smith, Baldwin, Empire, Gala. Often mixing two or three kinds of apples will give a pie a more robust flavor.

This recipe is commonly used in New England and packs much more flavor than more traditional recipes.

2 pre-made pie crusts (top and bottom) { Those brave souls who wish to make their own crust will find a crust recipe at the bottom of the page. }

Filling
10 medium sized apples, peeled and cut into ~6 pieces each
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
juice of 1/4 of a lemon
2 Tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 450′

Mix all the filling ingredients except for the apples in a bowl until well mixed.

Add apples and mix until apples are well coated.

Fit the bottom pie shell into a pie plate (I prefer glass so I can peek at the bottom) pour apples into pie shell and any remaining sauce over the top of the apples.

Cover with the top pie shell and fold over the edges, make a few slices in the top crust to let air and steam escape while cooking.

If you have an old cookie sheet or pizza pan, place it under the pie plate and then any sauce that bubbles over won’t make the oven smoke.

Immediately reduce oven heat to 350′F and cook until apples are tender (about 45-55 minutes)

Pie Crust
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups flour (unsifted)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 stick butter (1 cup)
1/2 cup ice water (you may not need less water)

The trick to making a good pie crust is to have the butter and water very cold. Some cooks I know freeze the butter and grate it in a food processor, and use small ice chips instead of water.

Mix dry ingredients, cut in shortening and butter with a pastry blender. Sprinkle with enough water to bind dough. Gather dough into a ball, knead a few times and wrap in plastic wrap. The colder the dough the easier it will be to roll out, put it in the freezer while you make the filling for best results.

In Wisconsin it is illegal to serve apple pie in a restaurant with out cheese.

“In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” Carl Sagan

I first had this on a visit to Houston a few years back. It is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. It is a Mexican cake, very sweet and used for very special occasions.

You can make the cake using the below recipe or use any yellow cake mix. Frosting can be canned, or whipped cream or cream cheese.

Yellow cake

Sift together:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda

Cream:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup of butter
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix:
1/3 cup milk
The creamed butter and sugar
The dry ingredients
Then beat until well mixed.

Divide between 2 well oiled 9″ round cake pans and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until well set. Set aside to cool

Whipped cream
Beat on high speed until it is stiff and holds peaks:
16oz of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat until well mixed
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Milk Mixture

Mix in a bowl:
1 cup milk
1 can (14oz) evaporated milk
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

Put it all together:
Pour half of the milk mixture into each cake pan and allow cakes to soak up the milk (~15 minutes)

Put the bottom layer on a plate

Spread bottom layer with either thinly sliced strawberries or strawberry or raspberry jam.

Put a layer of whipped cream over the fruit layer.

Put top layer on the bottom layer.

Put a layer of frosting on the top and sides of the cake.

Decorate the top with more sliced berries or jam.

Canned milk became popular in the late 1800s and one of the recipes on the label of canned milk by Nestles in the 1940s was for Tres Leches. It is believed to be derived from popular European desserts involving sweet breads soaked in eggs and creams. It became popular in South and Central America and has spread to North America. It is a favored cake for celebrations now.

On the trail of pastel de tres leches ( Austin Chronicle )