Stoneview

The best thing about apple picking season is Fresh Apple Coffee Cake. I’ve been making this for at least ten years now, probably more. The original recipe was from Southern Living Cookbook but it’s been modified pretty substantially since then to include fewer eggs, less butter and less sugar as well as more apples. I always use some of each variety that I have on hand.

Fresh Apple Coffeecake

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 cups apples, peeled and chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground

Beat butter at medium speed.  Gradually add 2 cups sugar and cream
together.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well  after each addition.
Combine
flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to creamed mixture.  Stir in apple
and vanilla.  Spoon batter into a greased and floured 9×13x2 pan.
Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cake batter.  Bake
at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes
out clean.

Or is that stick to your ribs? For Daniel’s welcome home dinner I made ribs, baked beans and fresh corn with root beer floats for dessert. Normally I do the ribs in the oven at 200 F for 3  hours but this time the beans were in there so I had to wing it. That turned out to be a lucky happenstance since I was forced to do them on the grill and the ribs came out more tender by far than they usually do. (I forgot to make BBQ sauce but if I had it would have been the one posted here.)

Spicy Ribs

2 racks  pork spareribs
2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Ancho chili powder
4 tablespoons half-sharp paprika

Mix together dry ingredients and rub onto both sides of the ribs. Wrap each wrap in foil and cook on the grill over low heat for about 3 hours. Slice between the bones, serve with sauce on the side.

There’s a brief window in the summer when the little wild blueberries appear at the market and that’s when I crave blueberry pie. When Jason asked me to make some pie dough yesterday I hoped that’s what was in store. I don’t use shortening anymore which makes it hard to do a nice pie dough as the butter tastes lovely but makes for a crumbly dough. This is one of my more successful attempts.

Blueberry Pie with almond crust

For the crust:
2 2/1 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup sliced almonds
ice water

Combine all ingredients except water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade and pulse until mixture is crumbly and butter pieces are no larger than a pea. With the processor running, drizzle in ice water a tablespoon at a time until the dough just comes together in ball. Remove slightly more than half of the dough and form into a little flattened disk, wrap in cling film. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill for an hour. Use the larger disk to roll out the bottom crust of the pie on a lightly floured board, transfer to the pie plate squidging a little extra dough down the sides to help prevent shrinkage. Let any excess just hang out over the sides. Roll out the remaining dough and cut into strips about an inch wide. Chill crust and strips a further 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 F.

For the filling:
1 quart wild blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes

Stir together all ingredients and fill pie evenly then weave dough strips across the top. Roll in any excess dough from the bottom crust  to form a little ridge around the edge of the pie. Brush pie crust with a lightly beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Place pie on a baking sheet to catch any drips and bake at 375 until filling is bubbly, about an hour.