Bake-Sale Brownies or Donna's Double-Baked Brownies -- Mmmm good!

I messed up.  I was making brownies (from scratch, of course -- NEVER from a mix) and got distracted.  I've made this recipe lots of times -- it's a winner every time.  Everyone always wants the recipe and I freely share it.  It comes from my America's Test Kitchen, "Family Cookbook" and the recipe is called "Bake-Sale Brownies".  I embellish it a bit -- I generally add some espresso powder to make it an even richer and deeper chocolate. For a brownie recipe, this one is top notch and so easy to make, I can't understand why anyone would ever bake from a boxed brownie mix!!!...but anyway, back to my mistake.  I am writing about my mistake and am now calling the recipe "Donna's Double-Baked Brownies"  As I said, I got distracted...

My 5 year old grandson, Jonah and my daughter, Jonah's mom, Jaimie, were at the house for the weekend. That alone always adds a bit of chaos and confusion and distraction.  Plus I was also thinking about trying out a recipe for ground turkey meatballs and trying to figure out the timing of these things -- make the brownies first, so they can cool and while they are baking and then cooling, put together the meatballs, then frost the brownies, do I have everything I need, etc, etc, etc -- don't forget to get the parsley out of the fridge and chop it up  -- oh wait that's for the meatballs, don't need parsley in the brownies, ya dah! ya dah!  So I mixed up the brownies but I had something distract me after each ingredient I added, but fortunately, I got it all mixed up and placed it in the oven to bake.  It was supposed to bake for 22-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  I set the timer for 20 minutes -- the timer went off and the brownies were rising nicely, and looked great, but they were still way too liquid.. set the timer for another 5 minutes and this time when the timer dinged and I saw that the brownies were still way too liquid, it dawned on me -- I NEVER ADDED THE FLOUR!  On the way to getting the flour, I got sidetracked and never measured it out and added it to the brownie batter!  There were a lot of expensive ingredients in these brownies and I didn't want to simply throw them out -- so how do I salvage my brownies?  I then decided to add the flour and try baking some more.  I mixed the flour into the brownies, and sort of pressed it into the pan to make the brownies level.  then I put back into the oven and baked another 25 minutes. the toothpick came out clean.  the worst that could happen is that the brownies would be hard as rocks and I still would have to throw them out.

I let the brownies cool as I finished up the ground turkey meatballs (which by the way turned out to be wonderful and I will have to write about them too -- they were pretty awesome and I am generally not too impressed with using ground turkey in stead of ground beef!).  When the brownies were cool, I discovered they were not hard as rocks and I cut a little tiny piece out of the corner of the baking dish and found they were quite tender and tasty!.  They didn't rise much and were sort of flat, but in an acceptable way.  So I made the chocolate espresso butter cream frosting and spread it over the brownies and decided to take them to work and test them out.  They were  HUGE hit!  Everyone loved my mistake and told me that I better write about this.  So here goes and here is the recipe for "Bake-Sale Brownies" or if you forget to add the flour, "Donna's Double-Baked Brownies"!

Ingredients:
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
(NOTE: -- I NEVER use squares of unsweetened chocolate anymore.  I use 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder -- generally fair traded organic cacao powder and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter -- I melt the cacao powder and the butter together to make my chocolate concoction -- I also add about 1/2 Tablespoon espresso powder)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
(Keep in mind, I only use organic, fairly traded, freshly churned, free-range, aluminum free, unbleached w/germ added ingredients -- totally!)
(BTW - this recipe doubles very nicely to make an 8"X13" pan size of brownies)

I also add about 1/2 cup either toasted, chopped pecan or walnut pieces to the batter and add another 1/4 - 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top after the brownies are frosted. If you don't plan to frost, then just sprinkle the nuts over the top of the brownie batter in the pan before putting in the oven.
Directions:
1.  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat an 8" square pan ( I use glass/Pyrex) with butter flavored spray oil (I use Wildtree  http://www.wildtree.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=149 and put it in my Pampered Chef oil spritzer http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=610&words=spray -- I don't like to use aerosol spray cans if I can avoid it!) -- make sure to lightly coat the corners and the sides, as well as the entire bottom of the baking dish.
2.  Melt the butter and the chocolate (and espresso powder, if using) together in the microwave, stirring often, 1-3 minutes.  Let the mixture cool slightly.
3.  Whisk the sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until combined.  whisk in the melted chocolate mixture until smooth.
4,  Stir in the flour until streaks remain -- unless you want Donna's doubled Baked Brownies -- then you skip this step! :-) But you could stir in the roasted chopped nuts at this point, if you choose to add nuts.
5.  Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 22 to 27 minutes.
6.  Let cool completely on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, before either icing the brownies or removing the brownies from the pan.

Icing Ingredients:
Okay, I have to tell you here, that I simply do not measure to make icing.  I do it by taste, look and consistency and quantity.  It's gotta taste creamy & buttery, it's gotta look chocolaty and not runny, but not too stiff either and there's got to be enough to give a good 1/4 - 3/8" at least, deep of icing all over the brownies!
Here's what i use:
Confectioners sugar (it helps to sift it, but not necessary -- just be sure to beat out the lumps!)
Cocoa powder & 1 teaspoon of espresso powder
lots of butter -- softened (I use salted butter here)
mix that up real good, add about a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of salt if needed and then enough milk to make the consistency right.  Add more sugar if needed and more milk to get the consistency & quantity right -- it doesn't hurt to add a bit more butter, if you think it is not tasting buttery enough -- Voila!  a very, very creamy and tasty frosting!

Eat the brownies as is, but a scoop of homemade vanilla Blue Bell ice cream is not a bad addition at all!!!

Apple Pie Slices

I actually started this blog post about a year ago.  I have been  looking for a picture of myself   that my mother cut out from the front page of the Joliet Herald News many, many years ago when I was still in high school -- but I have not been successful in finding it. It's a picture of me holding up my first place blue ribbon winning apple pie.  I entered this pie in the 4-H county fair.  I was mortified at the time because I knew the true story behind that pie.  My original plan had been to get apples from our apple orchard to make the filling for the pie. I had been in a pretty serious car accident earlier in the same day that I was supposed to make the pie.  Even though I wasn't hurt too badly it was still a major accomplishment that I was able to make my special "Never-Fail" pie crust completely from scratch, much less go out and climb an apple tree, pick a bunch of apples, peel them, core them and then slice them to put into a filling.  My mother and one of my sisters convinced me to use canned pie filling.  I still remember the brand... Anyway, the pie crust was melt in your mouth, tasty and flaky perfect.  The judges liked the crust and gave it high marks -- but they absolutely loved the pie filling!!!  That was a long time ago and I have since learned that it is the crust that makes the pie -- put the same wonderful filling in a tough, cardboard like crust and the pie is not quite so wonderful.

The recipe for these pie slices do not use my "Never-Fail" pie crust recipe, but there is a secret to making a flavorful pastry crust -- lard.  Before you dismiss this idea, please refer to my blog post about my defense of lard and the health benefits. http://artofcookingfromscratch.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-defense-of-lard.html

I got this recipe for apple pie slices from my mother. These slices are always a big hit and perfect for taking to a pot-luck dinner, because they are made in a  10"X15.5" cookie baking pan and you can get 24 decent sized slices in one recipe.  Although this is not my "Never-Fail" pie crust recipe, the recipe for the pastry crust for these pie slices is a good one -- it is not quite the same as a regular pie crust, because it uses egg yolks and milk.  I have also modified it a bit from when my mother used to make these slices, but I think my modifications make a really good recipe into a GREAT recipe.  The filling is a fairly standard and simple old fashioned apple pie recipe.  You can also make cherry pie slices or peach pie slices or even pumpkin pie slices (only you don't need the top crust & glaze) -- my mother did all of these, except the pumpkin. Pumpkin pie slices was another successful experiment of mine.  Since it is fall and it is apple season, we are going to make apple pie slices today.

Here is the recipe for the Crust (with my modifications):

4 cups organic unbleached flour (I use King Arthur) or use 3 cups unbleached flour and then add

1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour (the combination of both flours should equal about 4 cups)

2 teaspoons salt (I use Kosher sea salt or Himalayan Pink) 

1 1/2  cup shortening (I use 1 cup of my home-rendered lard & 1/2 cup unsalted butter. If you use vegetable shortening (Crisco), you will not get as good of a quality & flavorful crust. Use 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter if you do not have lard.)

3/4+ cup very cold milk

2 eggs, separated

Mix/sift the flour & salt together. Add the shortening and using a fork or pastry blender (I use my food processor using the dough blade). Mix the flour & butter until it takes on a small pebbly texture. Mix the 2 egg yolks and the cold milk together. Set the egg whites aside to use later.  Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour, salt & shortening mixture and mix together.  Do not over mix, but just enough to form a soft dough.  if the dough is still too sticky, add a bit more of unbleached flour, until it forms a soft dough.  Divide the dough into 2 parts and shape into 2 disks - 1 slightly larger. Wrap each disk individually in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator to chill.
Now is a good time to pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.


Apple Filling

8 cups or so peeled, cored & sliced apples (about 5 pounds) - sprinkle and stir in some lemon juice over the sliced apples, so that they don't turn brown.
In a small bowl, mix together:

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour (may use whole wheat pastry flour)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (you may also add 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ground cloves - optional)
1/4 cup Boiled Apple Cider (This is optional - I buy my boiled cider from King Arthur. It adds depth to the apple flavor and also helps to solidify the juice, so the slices do not turn out too runny)
Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and stir into the apples, then stir in the boiled apple cider1/4+ cup butter - set aside

Get the larger one of the dough disks out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic and set the disk on a floured surface. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough out to be a rectangle that is 3/4 inch larger than the 1/2 sheet sized cookie sheet all the way around. Carefully fold the dough in half and then in quarters, and place it in the center of the cookie sheet.  Unfold it so that it fits exactly in the cookie sheet and goes up the 4 sides too. If you need to trim off some of the dough from the top sides of the pan, now is the time to do that. Pour the sliced apple mixture into the center of the crust and spread out evenly. Finally dot the top with thin slices of the butter.  Get the other dough disk out of the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface to make a rectangle that fits exactly over top of the apple filling to the edges of the cookie sheet.  It is okay to press the crust coming up the sides to the top crust all of the way around the pan. Make several slashes in the top crust in various sections, so that there are slashes evenly distributed over the top crust..  Then brush the entire top of the crust with the egg whites (slightly beaten) that you set aside earlier.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes -- until nicely browned and the apple filling is bubbling.

While the apple slices are baking, it is a good time to make the vanilla glaze icing.

Vanilla Glaze Icing

Powdered Sugar - about 1 cup

butter, softened - about 3-4 tablespoons

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

milk - about 1+ tablespoon

Mix the powdered sugar and the butter together so that it forms a pasty sort of consistency.  Add the vanilla and milk.  Mix this up so that it is slightly runny, but not too thin -- add more sugar, butter, or milk as needed.

When the apple slices are finished baking, take them out of the oven and set them on a heat protected surface. Let cool just a bit and then spread the vanilla glaze over the entire top of the apple slices. Let sit so the icing sets a bit and then cut into 24 pieces.

The apple slices can be eaten warm -- they taste great with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream!  Or the apple slices can be eaten cold.



Rhubarb Meringue Pie

I have lived here in Southwest Georgia (Americus) for about 18 years now.  I love it down here, but there are a few things that I do miss from my upbringing in the Midwest -- Illinois to be exact.  I miss peonies and lilacs and rhubarb.  Rhubarb just doesn't seem to grow down here, but I can't figure out why, unless it is the dense, red clay soil.  I did some reading about growing it and even though others I know have failed, I am going to try!  I get my stash of rhubarb in any way that I can -- I order it frozen from my food co-op -- organic rhubarb from Oregon (Stahlbush Island Farms).  I have found it at the Dekalb International Farmer's market in Atlanta -- kind of pricey, especially when I know that it grows like a weed.  Lastly, my friend who grew up in Wisconsin gets it mailed to her by her parents who are still in Wisconsin and Michelle has been known to share. My mother used to make all kinds of dessert type things with rhubarb -- some kind of a rhubarb stew, rhubarb crisp, and several types of rhubarb pie.

Many years ago, my late Aunt Lorene, my godmother, gave me a book crammed full of old index cards of old family recipes -- some of them hers, some of them are my Grandma Heisner's, some are my mom's and my many aunts and some other very important women cooks in my growing up years. I was very much intrigued by this book full of "heirloom" recipes and knew that it took quite a bit of thought and effort on my aunt's part to compile it for me -- the recipes in it are sort of a family history and just reading the recipes invokes all kinds of old memories -- complete with aromatic cooking smells!  Each of the 3X5 index cards have recipes that are handwritten on them -- many of them are in the handwriting of whoever was known for the recipe. It wasn't until recently that I really looked through it, because I was looking for a recipe that I had -- but lost and hoped it was in the book that my aunt put together for me.  It was. I was astounded by what I found and maybe I should put some kind of cookbook & family history together.

Most of the pie recipes are my mother's -- my mom was well-known for her pies and for her flaky pie crust (the secret to her pie crust was lard). I also make my own pie crust.  I have, in the past, used store bought pie crust, for quick convenience -- it's the filling that's important, right?  WRONG! Store-bought pie crust can't even begin to compete with homemade pie crust and the flavorful flaky result complements and enhances the flavor of the filling -- if you have to get away with something store-bought, buy canned fruit pie filling! I literally learned this lesson in high school! (This is a story for another blog post!)

 My mom had a way and a feel for making fabulous pies and most of the time, she never had a recipe in front of her. Well, my friend from Wisconsin gave me some rhubarb that her parents mailed to her and I knew that I had to make a rhubarb pie using one of my mother's famous recipes -- Rhubarb Meringue Pie.  Here it is:

Rhubarb Meringue Pie, by Pearl Heisner

1 unbaked pie crust (will talk to you more about this later -- using my never-fail recipe)

Filling:

3 cups rhubarb, diced

3 egg yolks (put the whites in the refrigerator until needed for the meringue)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour, but unbleached flour is fine too)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Meringue:

3 egg whites (Did you know that you can freeze egg whites?  Whenever a recipe calls for egg yolks, but not whites, I put the whites in little plastic containers and freeze them -- usually 3 to a container.  I pull them out later and thaw them and use them for meringues or angel food cake or even to brush on bread before it is baked -- btw, the same also holds true for yolks --I freeze them in the same way)

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/3 cup sugar

Pie Crust:

(This makes enough for a 9-inch double crust pie -- for this pie, you can use half and freeze the other half to use the next time you need 1 unbaked pie crust -- or double the above recipe and make 2 pies)

2 1/2 cups good quality unbleached flour (you could replace 1/2 cup or so with whole wheat pastry flour)

2 tablespoons sugar (may omit this)

1 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons lard (or you could use vegetable shortening), cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled (I used my frozen home-rendered lard)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into 1/4 inch pieces, chilled (again, I used frozen)

1 small slightly beaten egg

1 teaspoon vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

 To make the crust - 

1. Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the lard over the top and process until mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. This is the first time I ever used my new food processor to make pie crust!

2. Mix together the slightly beaten egg & vinegar and gradually pour into the flour mixture. Process this mixture, then adding a little at a time, tablespoon by tablespoon, the ice water. When it really sticks together as a dough, transfer to a bowl, using a stiff rubber spatula to scrape it out.  If you need to add a bit more water, do so, while pressing the dough together with the spatula.  This is a sensitive time.  You don't want to add too much water so that the dough is too sticky, nor do you want too little water, so that the dough is too crumbly to roll out.  If you need to add a bit more flour, now is a good time to add a bit, if the dough is too sticky.

3. Divide the dough into two even pieces and flatten each into a 4" disk.  Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.  If you only plan to use 1 disk, freeze the one that you will not use.  I would put the plastic wrapped disk into a zip-loc bag to further insure against freezer damage. If you don't have an hour, the disk to be refrigerated can also be slipped into the freezer while you prepare the filling for the pie.

4. When you are ready to roll out the dough, let the dough soften slightly at room temperature, before rolling it out and fitting it into a pie plate.

To Make Ahead:

The dough can be refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months.  Let the frozen dough thaw on the countertop until malleable before rolling.

To make the filling:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spoon the rhubarb into the pie shell and spread it out evenly throughout the shell.

Beat the egg yolks until thick, then beat in the lemon juice.  Gradually beat in the 1 1/4 cup sugar, then fold in the flour, salt & nutmeg.  Pour over the rhubarb in the pie shell. Bake in the 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.  I used a glass pie plate, so I left mine in for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer,

Meanwhile, make the meringue:

Beat the chilled egg whites and cream of tartar until it forms soft peaks.  Add 1/3 cup sugar and beat until stiff.  Remove the pie from the oven (after the second 15 minutes) and spoon the meringue over the pie.  Bake 15 minutes longer or until the meringue is lightly browned.

Cool the pie on a wire rack -- and then EAT!

YUMMY!