Red 'n' Hot Pie

In the middle of all the craziness, I am moving. Fun times! I will not be doing posts for a couple of weeks due to the move. I might squeeze in a cocktail, or two... I wanted to do one last baking adventure before everything ends up in boxes. I had a bag of apples that were starting to go bad. I had pie crusts in the freezer. Naturally I made an apple pie. But a normal apple pie is so boring. When I was searching for a pie last week I found this gem in the 1954 edition of Dishes Children Love published by the Culinary Arts Institute.

This cookbook has interesting recipes but I hate the way it is written. I prefer lists of ingredients and then the instructions. There is no need to mix them together!

 Here's the original recipe. Looks tasty!

I had everything except for red hots. I don't think that I every went out and bought red hots on purpose. Hot cinnamon is not my thing.

 Melting candy is fun!

 It actually took a little bit for all the candies to melt.

The apples turned so delightfully pink! I'm kinda nervous about the taste. It smells very hard sugar candy with a hint of cinnamon.

 But it look pretty!

 I suck at pie crusts so I stuck with a simple one.

Here it is baked for 10 at 450 and 15 at 350. The top crust does not look fully cooked so I stuck it in for 15 more minutes and then another 10 minutes. Basically adding up to the baking time of the regular apple pie.

Looks and smells amazing! It actually just smells like a regular cinnamon apple pie. Feel good about it now. I am taking it over to my folks for dessert and I didn't bring a back up. It better be at least okay.

Wow! What a nice pie! The candies added a nice subtle cinnamon flavor which I really enjoyed. While I used whatever apples I had on hand (I think they were slightly old Rome apples), this would probably taste even better with nice, tart apples. 

My Rating: Yum! I'll keep this recipe on hand. The pink apples are fun!

Family Rating: "Awesome!!!!" "Apple pie is my favorite pie and this was really good." 

Chocolate Brownie Pie

I still have no idea how I ended up with several packages of ready made pie crust in my freezer. Apparently I was going to make a ton of pies. Homemade pie crust is always the best but the ready made ones are a very good and super easy substitute. I have used both brand name and generic and I find that they are both equally good. So, I had pie crust but I was also craving chocolate. I blame that on the red wine. This combo Chocolate Brownie Pie is from the 1955 Gold Medal Jubilee 1880 - 1955 Cookbook.

Looks easy enough. I've had cream pies, fruit pies, and nut pies but not a brownie pie. I'm not certain how the brownie will taste combined with the pie crust.

I had everything on hand except the pecans. Since we are staying in I raided my nut collection in the freezer. Roasted hazelnuts go well with chocolate. Done! Barely had enough dark corn syrup to make it.

Usually I cheat and heat the chocolate in the microwave but I decided to follow the directions. I had enough time and nothing better to do. If you do use the microwave keep a very close eye on it and only heat in 15 second increments, stirring after each one. It is very easy to ruin chocolate...sometimes several times in a row.

 Didn't have a rotary beater so I busted out the hand mixer.

 Yum...hazelnuts and chocolate...

Looks like a pecan pie! I am incredibly bad at pie shells. I cannot make a crimped edge to save my life and they always turn out a little wonky. Or drip all over my oven. This looks like a good start.

My kitchen smells heavenly!! As I thought. My pie shell looks terrible. Fine in one corner, too long in another, somehow one side even shrunk.

 After letting it cool off, the pie deflated a bit. Still smells so good!

The inside looks like a brownie! Sounds silly but I was not expecting it to be cake-like. I thought it would be more like a fudge brownie. What a pleasant surprise!

Oh wow! This was great! Lighter than a brownie and because it is technically a pie, you can add Cool Whip or whip cream to it. And yes, the very first picture has more Cool Whip than pie. So what. The hazelnuts were amazing in it but pecans would probably be wonderful as well. I'll have to try that next time. Dylan's preference would have been pecans. Walnuts would be good also...maybe chocolate chips...

My Rating: Amazing! I'm trying to decide when to make my next one.

Dylan's Rating: (After I stared at his plate) What? There's still half a pie left.

Banana Bread

I made a comment the other day about how many bananas I had stored in my freezer so my mother suggested this recipe. An easy, quick banana bread! And my boyfriend loves banana bread...what a coincidence...

This cookbook was given to mom from my grandma and she uses it often. It is a 1945 edition of the Culinary Arts Encyclopedic Cookbook. I will probably explore it more later.

I had pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, and peanuts so we had to make a trip to the store. I decided on walnuts.

I realized after I took the photo that I was missing the shortening. But I'm sure you know what that looks like. I grabbed a few frozen bananas but I still have several in the freezer.

 I was trying to do an artsy pouring photo. It didn't work.

It's starting to look good!

The only loaf pan I have is an 8 inch and not a 9 inch. I don't know why. It's too small for almost all loaf recipes and I always remember that right after I start making bread. I need a new pan. I'll probably forget by the next time though.

Yum...forget candles! My apartment smells like baking!

 The edges got a little too dark but the inside was perfect!

With a normal sized loaf pan this would have turned out perfect. I actually prefer muffins and usually make those instead of a loaf but my boyfriend (I guess I should give him a name...Dylan) requested a loaf. My mother swears by this recipe and I see why. So easy! So delicious! It made a great breakfast with coffee. I think Dylan purposely bought more bananas than he can eat this past shopping trip.

My Rating: Yum! I'll definitely make again.

Dylan's Rating: "This is really good! We should make a couple more and freeze them just in case."

Gin Fizz

By now I think everyone needs a good drink. Gin Fizzes are one of my favorites because they are so easy and delicious! But I have always wanted to try the variations. Being stuck inside with a crazy boyfriend makes for a perfect time to try some drinks! I pulled out both the 1935 The Savoy Cocktail Book and the 1950 Here's How! by Stouffer's to get a nice variety of recipes.

I used the recipes from Stouffer's as a base since it was a lot more specific.

I am still trying to figure out what exactly a 'glass' is. Thanks Savoy.

I typically like to use lime juice in my basic gin fizz but I decided to stick with the lemon juice. Kept the generic club soda but went a little fancy with Hendrick's gin. The boyfriend loves Hendrick's.

When you ask for help be prepared for a little bit of craziness!

From left to right: regular Gin Fizz, Silver Fizz, and Golden Fizz. All in whatever glasses I could find.

A variation of the Ruby Fizz. We had an interesting debate on what exactly a 'splash' was. I don't know why. I don't write the cocktail books!

I didn't have rum but decided to have a try with gin instead.

I had a little bit of Mango Mango preserves left and thought it might be tasty in a drink.

It was quite a mixture of good and bland. The silver and golden fizz were creamier tasting but I didn't think they added anything to it. Ruby fizz was my favorite but needed a little bit more Chambord. The Pineapple Fizz was also nice but, again, I thought it needed more pineapple. The flavor was very light. The mango was a bust. Not bad tasting but very, very little flavor. I was expecting something a little more tropical. All in all a nice experimental evening. I have had other cocktails that included raw egg so that was nothing too out there for me although it was something new for my sweetie. 

My Rating: I'm going to stick with the basics, regular old gin fizz...with lime.

Boyfriend Rating: None of them were bad but the pineapple was my favorite.

Chocolate Chip Orange Muffins

Sometimes you just have to bake! I was really really craving something small and sweet but didn't want to venture out into the world. I felt good when I saw a lot of social distancing while shopping the other day but then I drove by the beach...sigh... And naturally I didn't pick up any snackies because I was saving money. Guess I have to make some! I had everything on hand for Chocolate Chip Orange Muffins from the 1971's edition of Hershey's 1934 Cookbook.

Easy recipe and only make a dozen. Nice! So many older baking recipes make lots to share. Not being in a sharing situation I appreciate a single family recipe. I used a mix of semi-sweet and bitter-sweet chocolate chips and my last mandarin orange.

I know I took a picture of the ingredients. I set everything out all pretty, a nice pile of chocolate chips, a cute mandarin orange...I have no idea what happened to it. It disappeared! So let's jump to step 2: milk, egg, and oil added to the flour mix.

Best step, adding the chocolate chips! The orange zest adds a nice, bright touch of color.

I used baking liners because I'm that kind of person. I planned on giving some away and storing some so liners just make it easier. Easier for clean up as well. The recipe said 12 muffins so that's what I did. The dough only filled the liners halfway, less than what I would normally do.

They are so cute! Naturally they did not get as big as the muffins nowadays, we are bigger muffin people now.

These smell so good...

Yes, I took them out of the liners for pictures.

I had to sample one just out of the oven (who doesn't love a warm muffin?!) and was less than impressed. The chocolate was good but overall the muffin was bland. So, I took a few pictures, separated them to give away, and sat down to watch tv and think about my sewing pile. The next morning I was feeling a bit peckish. I'm not much of a breakfast person but the muffin seemed just the right amount. Wow! What a difference a night makes. These taste so much better after cooling off completely. A nice light hint of orange. I think milk chocolate chips would actually taste better.

My Rating: Good! A nice little muffin!

Friends and Family Rating: "These are delicious. I ate them all..." "My son loved the muffins! My friend said they were the best she ever had."