Henry Street Garden French Apple Pie

Each fall the DH and I spend a day in the country picking apples at one of the many orchards that dot the Hudson Valley. But not this year.  Instead, I harvested apples even more locally -- from a fruit-laden tree growing in the garden adjacent to Henry Street Settlement, my place of employ. For the first time in recent memory, the squirrels didn't destroy the crop.

To showcase these Granny Smith beauties, I made a French Apple Pie, which is basically an apple crumb pie.  Now, I've rarely had success with apple pies -- they are either too runny or too dry -- but this vintage recipe hit it out of the park.* The hand-typed recipe promised that "You will be delighted with the results." And I was.

Below is the apple tree, growing in Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Park, right next to the Settlement's headquarters. The park, a true sanctuary on the Lower East Side, was created from funds donated by the Louis and Anne Abrons Foundation to the Plant-A-Lot Project of GrowNYC.

Can you tell I'm the marketing director at Henry Street?

Get started by peeling and slicing the apples. Make easy work of this by enlisting the help of a family member, as I did. (Thanks, Paul.)

Combine the apples with flour, sugar and cinnamon.

Place the mixture in an unbaked pie crust. (Pie crust recipe at the end of this post.)

Prepare the crumb topping.

and place atop the apples.

Bake for just 45 minutes.

Cool, slice and enjoy!

Production notes: I followed the recipe exactly, but used a regular -- not a deep dish pie pan (because I don't own one). I used cinnamon (not nutmeg) and didn't add any water to the filling.

*Be sure to choose apples appropriate for pie, as some will not hold up when baked, making for a watery filling.

For the pie crust, I used my version of the tried and true recipe published in the original c. 1980 Silver Palate Cookbook, which is pretty vintage itself at this point. This makes a double crust, so you can cut it in half to make the single-crust required by French Apple Pie.

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 stick of cold butter, cut into small pieces
6 T. cold Crisco, cut into pieces
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
3 - 6 T. cold water

Place dry ingredients in a food processor and whirl to blend.  Add butter and Crisco and process until it resembles cornmeal. Transfer to a round bowl, and add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Blend with a fork.  When it holds together, transfer to a lightly floured surface and form a large ball.  Divide in half and either roll out between two sheets of plastic wrap, or refrigerate until it's a bit firmer and then roll out.

Peanutty Caramel Squares

Some who say a Snickers bar can't be improved have probably never tried Peanutty Caramel Squares. These three-layer bar cookies -- with a Snickers filling -- would make a great lunch box snack (if schools still allow peanuts, that is).

This recipe dates from the late 1960s or early 1970s, as it calls for four regular Snickers bars or 10 "fun size." The latter weren't introduced until 1968.

I served these at a family barbecue, where they quickly disappeared and were especially beloved by my brand-new son-in-law. Luckily he bike races, so he can eat sweets (and everything else) with abandon.

Begin by purchasing Snickers bars, below, with the not-so-subliminal message "Satisfies" on the back of the package.

Over low heat, melt the Snickers bars, with milk and butter in a saucepan.

Add the coconut and almond extract.

Make the crust and place in a greased or parchment-lined 8 x 8 inch baking pan, reserving 1/2 cup for the topping. (You should make the crust before starting the filling.  I just put the fun part first in this post.)

Pat down until smooth.  I use gloves for this task.

Bake until golden brown.

Pour the chocolate filling over the crust.

Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the chocolate filling.

Bake, remove from oven and cut into squares.

Spiced Nut Coffeecake

It was getting on near 10 p.m. one night last week and, wanting to bake something simple and cheerful (for baking is my antidepressant), I whipped up this tasty spiced nut coffeecake. Plus the DH loves cake with a crumbly topping.

This is simple and delicious, but not terribly spicy by our 21st century standards, the same standards that find cayenne pepper in brownies and salt in caramels.

Start by making the topping in a small bowl by combining the sugar, chopped nuts, spices and melted butter. Reserve while you prepare the batter, accomplished by mixing the dry ingredients and simply pouring the liquid ingredients on top.  Mix until just moistened.

The batter will be extremely thick and you'll think it can't possibly be right. For some reason, it behaves as if it is a yeast dough, i.e., very elastic .  But using a wooden spoon, or similar tool, become the boss of it and force the dough into the corners of the pan.

When it's spread out in the pan, sprinkle the topping on.

Production notes:  I followed this exactly, and melted the tablespoon of butter before mixing it into the dry topping ingredients. I also used butter in place of the "melted shortening or salad oil" for the cake.  The lines are typed very close together, causing the fraction ingredients to run into each other.  The amount for the topping are 1/4 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.  For the cake, they are 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 egg, 3/4 c. milk and 1/4 c. melted butter. This is easy to overbake, so keep a close eye on it.