Apricot Pie

Yet another recipe from a while ago. I'll start making some new stuff soon. 

Pies are an odd thing for me. I don't hate them. I don't love them. They are great when I'm craving something different but they are not typically something I search for.

I can't remember where I found this fantastic little gem! It is Marvelous Meals with Minute Tapioca by Mis Dine-about-town from 1938. I purchased it mainly because of the cover.

But this amazing intro just sealed the deal. I had to get it!

This recipe interested me. I hadn't seen an apricot pie before. I love apricots though so it seems like a good one to try.

I had to get almost all the fruit since I just didn't have it on hand. I couldn't find apricot juice so I settled on peach. Seemed like a good fit. We have peach, apricot, and pineapple flavors. 

Cooked and drained apricots. The look less appealing than the dried one.

Mixed it all together while 'making' the pastry crust. Pre-made pie dough is the best! It will changed your life. If you haven't tried it, do it! I think I used the generic version this time.

Everything goes in the crust.

Okay, I am going to attempt a lattice top. My pies never turn out pretty, no matter how delicious they taste.

Still couldn't crimp the edges but the lattice doesn't look half bad. I'm satisfied!

Ohhh....they baked up so pretty! And smells amazing. Baked fruit filling the air...

Well, it that promptly fell apart. Still smells great!

This was a tasty, unique pie. Next time I would use higher quality dried apricots and bake it a little while longer. Strangely it didn't have a very strong apricot taste. It was mostly pineappley. I think using the peach juice instead of apricot helped to cut the flavor.

My Rating: Tastey! A nice change from the typically pie flavors.

Fruit Jewels

Well, it's been a while. I have no excuse but that just how life is. This is actually a recipe I made a while ago but am just now putting here. 

I found a great stash of old cooking pamphlets from a used bookstore this fall. This great margarine pamphlet was one of them. I love it! I don't know the year but maybe 1950's. Maybe

So many delicious sounding recipes but let's go for something a little different: Fruit Jewels!

I actually had to but a lot more for this recipe than usual. I don't normally keep maraschino cherries, dates, or even margarine on hand. Chopping the cherries was fun. I'm lazy so I just stuck them in a bowl and used my kitchen scissors to cut them up. The dates were already precut because I hate cutting dates! they are so sticky!

There doesn't seem like there is enough dough for all the mix-ins...

Easy recipe to follow. Just mix. I like that. Sometimes it's great to just have a simple recipe. I love how bright the cherries are!

These turned out so cute! More texture than the recipe picture but I think they look even better.

I was a little nervous because I am not usually a fan or maraschino cherries but these were tasty. They stayed nice and moist. No crispiness here. They had a light, not too sweet flavor and, even though the recipe says it makes 2.5 dozen. I don't think I got even 2 dozen from it. I'm not upset about that. I probably made them a little larger than they were supposed to be but I think they were the perfect size for me. And made the perfect amount. Because these were so moist they tended to stick together after a day or so and so they had to be eaten quickly.

My Rating: Delicious! Definitely something a little different to make again.

Peanut Cookies

Holy cow! It has been a while. There was a lot going on so I had to take a break from baking. But I am back! I found some great new cook books filled with delicious sounding recipes. The first one I ha to make involves peanuts just for my sweetie. He's been very patient during the baking drought.

I pulled this recipe from  the 1940's Metropolitan Cook Book which was put out by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. This is one of the several cookbooks I found while on vacation.

Looks simple enough and it does not look like it is going to produce 15 dozen cookies. Yeah! One common problem I am having with some of these older recipes is the amount of cookies I actually get from them. Despite what he says, neither I nor my boyfriend need 5 dozen cookies in the house.

I decided to use unsalted butter as the fat since I always have lots of it on hand. Had to buy some peanuts but gave my sweetie the rest of the container. It lasted less than a week. 

There doesn't seem like there is enough butter...but let's keep going. Gonna add the eggs.

It's starting to take shape. A nice and fluffy dough!

Always read the entire recipe first. Sometimes I don't but it is a good practice to get into. I was not paying attention and added the peanuts to the cookie dough.

It did not feel like there was quite enough peanuts so I added more to the top. 

After just 12 minutes I got these fluffy cuties!

My kitchen smells like peanuts! 

These baked up nice and fluffy. And smell delicious!

These came together quick and easy and didn't require anything special. I didn't even have to bust out the standing mixer! They were very light in texture and flavor. These will not be mistaken for peanut butter cookies. The peanut taste was barely there. If I hadn't mistakenly added peanuts to the mix there would not have been much peanut flavor. That being said, they were delicious. Easy enough to throw together in a pinch and you just have to remember to add extra peanuts.

My Rating: Pretty good. Easy for a last minute cookie.

Dylan Rating: "Needs more peanuts but it's nice."