Honey and Spice Apple Chips

There is a question that has been bothering me for awhile.  It has to do with what we are doing right now.  More importantly, it has to do with what you want from me.  In the beginning, it was easy enough to go on for awhile about the true terribleness of my photographs, regale with stories of lonesome Saturday nights and backyard barbecues and more than likely bore you in general with occasional work stories and complaints about the weather.

But now, 9 times out of 10, I have no idea what to say to you.  I sit and stare at an empty blogger page.  Do you want a witty anecdote?  My step-by-step reaction to the recipe?  Are you even out there at all, to care about what I put down here? Or am I that crazy woman, yelling at a wall?

This is deep for apple chips, I know, I'm sorry.  The truth is, I have no anecdote for apple chips, no recipe reactions.  I am a big fan of apple chips and was intrigued that I could make them and they would be prettier than store bought.  And that is the basic, boring and strange  reason I choose this recipe, because the result would be pretty.  It would end not in broken pieces in a cloud of cinnamon dust, but  in whole, gorgeous slices of applies with stars in the middle.  Because I needed some pretty stars in my life.  Who doesn't?

Lucky for me, the pretty stars lead to a yummy snack that didn't even last a whole morning.  The recipe for these beauties is a keeper, even if the rest of my words are not.

Apple Chips

From the very pretty Blissful Bite

3 apples (I used a honey crisp, a Jona-gold and a Pacific Rose)
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (heaping, of course)
2 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.  Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
In small bowl, whisk together all ingredients, except apples.  Set aside.

Thinly slice apples.  I used a mandolin, which is best for me because it gives super thin, constant slices.  Pop out seeds and hard pieces of core as necessary.  Place in very large bowl and toss with lemon/honey/spice mixture.  The larger the bowl, the easier it will be to toss apple slices.  If necessary, hand rub mixture onto slices, so everything is evenly coated.

Line coated apple slices in a single layer on prepared baking sheets.  Bake in a 225 degree oven for 2 hours, flipping slices over after the first hour of baking.  Chips should be dry and crisp as they come out of the oven.  Let cool and if you don't eat them all right away, store in an airtight container!

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions

Sometimes I dread the day that I have to be an actual grownup 100% of the time.  One day in the hazy future, I am going to have to be somewhat more responsible.  And by responsible I don't mean having only a small scope of ice cream after a dinner of cereal.  I mean responsible like cooking a balanced dinner each night, eating a range of fruits and veggies, and not impulse buying ice cream in the first place.

People, we are not getting younger.  Responsibility time is just around the corner unfortunately.  Yours truly is about to turn a quarter of a century in less than a month.  Yes, I know, I know, maybe 25 isn't that old, but to me it's a scary number, round multiple of 5.  (PS - Mom, your youngest is about to turn 25! Ah!)  My days of sitting on the couch after a long day, eating cereal and watching 80's TV reruns are numbered.  I'm going to have to finish growing up eventually.  I'm going to have to make more things like pork chops roasted with apples and onions.  Oh the hardships....

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions
Cooking Light, September 2012

This wasn't a stand out dish.  It was good, but not amazing.  In other words, was eaten up completely, but not quite big green cookbook worthy.  Tuesday night dinner worthy though, you know, if you run out of cereal and ice cream.

2 1/2 tsp. olive oil, divided
1 1/2 c. frozen pearl onions, thawed, pat dry
2 c. Gala apple wedges
3 tsp. butter, divided
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-oz) bone-in center-cut pork loin chops (about 1/2 in. thick)
1/2 c. chicken stock
1/2 tsp. flour
1 tsp. cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Heat large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp. olive oil to pan and heat.  Add onions to pan and brown for 3-4 minutes, stirring only once or twice to let the onions get some pretty brown on them. Add apples to pan and put in oven. Roast at 400° until apples are fork tender, about 10 minutes.  Toss immediately with 2 tsp. butter, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Transfer mixture to plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm.

Heat remaining oil in pan over medium-high heat. Season pork chops lightly with salt and pepper.  Cook pork 3 minutes per side, flipping only once to get a nice brown.  Remove pork from pan and tent with foil to keep warm. Whisk together broth and flour until there are no more lumps.  Pour into hot pan and bring to a boil, scrapping up any lose bits into the broth.  Boil until mixture is reduced to about 1/4 cup.  Add vinegar and remaining tsp. of butter, serve over pork and applies.

Grape Apple Pie

Or, as we more affectionately referred to it all Thanksgiving day long, Grapple Pie.

My Thanksgiving adventures are long over due to show up here.  I have sneakily been avoiding them since I got back to Terre Haute by giving you recipes for things like enchiladas and crackers made with half and half.  In my defense, who really wants a stuffing recipe that requires turkey giblets to be made properly in December?  Turkey season, whether we like it or not, has passed and Christmas is gloriously upon us.  Stuffing recipes, along with pumpkin pie and candied yam recipes, are going to have to be shelved for awhile.

Pie recipes, on the other hand, do not.  Especially when honey crisp apples are still cheap and grapes so dark they look black are abundant.  And this would be a welcome addition to any Christmas, Hanukkah or "Winter Wonderland" party (for our PC friends out there...)  Just don't put a turkey cut-out in the middle and you're good to go, no turkey giblets required.

Grape Apple ("Grapple") Pie

From Bon Appetit's 2011 November edition

This pie takes a little bit of time.  Most of it is not active time, but there is parbaking, cooling and chilling.  We were running out of time and cut some corners, but even so I stayed up till 1 am finishing off the pie.  So start in the morning and don't do what we did!


For Crust:
3 c. all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
1/2 c. vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1/3 c. ice water

For Filling:
3 lbs. "tart, crisp" apples (Pink Lady, Crispin)
1 lb. black grapes
3/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

For crust, combine flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.  Mix well.  Add chilled butter and shortening and cut into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal.  If using a food processor, pulse until dough forms coarse meal.  Slowly add ice water, continuing to pulse or cut dough until dough forms.  If dry, add more ice water by teaspoons until dough forms, but don't let it get sticky.   Divide dough into two equal balls, then flatten into disks.  Bits of butter should be seen in the dough.  Wrap disks in plastic and chill in refrigerator (NOT FREEZER--like I might have done...) for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Once dough is chilled, remove from fridge and immediately roll out dough into a round large enough to fill a 9 inch pie pan.  Transfer to pie pan and trim dough to edge of dish, with no dough left hanging over.  Work quickly so dough does not warm up much.  Place pie dish and dough into freezer and freeze till firm, roughly 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, add dough scraps to other ball.  Roll out dough to form pie lid, about a 12 inch circle, again working quickly so dough remains cold.   Slide onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet and return to fridge to chill.

To parbake the bottom crust, preheat oven to 375°.  Line dough with parchment paper and fill with dried beans.  Place in oven and bake 25-30 minutes, or until edge just start to turn golden.  Remove parchment paper and beans.  If bottom has puffed up, prick in a few places with a fork.  Return to oven and continue to bake another 20-25 minutes, until crust is a deep golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

While crust is cooling, peel, core and thinly slice apples.  Halve grapes and remove any seeds if present.  Combine apple slices, grapes, sugar and flour in a large saucepan, mix well.  Cook on stove over medium-low heat, stirring often for 30-40 minutes.  Fruit should begin to look translucent and juices will thicken.  Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.  While cooling, decoratively cut top crust dough, reserving cutouts to place on top as more decoration.  Return to fridge.

Once mixture has cooled, preheat oven to 375°.  Pour filling into parbaked pie crust.  Carefully transfer refrigerated top crust over filling.  Cut off overhang and press crusts closed.  Place reserved cutouts over top, pressing lightly to make sure cutouts stick.  Place pie on rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips.

Bake pie at 375°, until juices are bubbling and crust is a pretty golden brown, 55-60 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.  Whew, enjoy!