Apple Bars

Apple bars can be a bit tedious to make, but they are well worth the effort. It seems to be a fact that the more ooey, gooey, and difficult a crust is to roll out, the better it will be. Apple bars are sort of like a half bakers sheet of apple pie...but better. The apple to crust ratio is what makes this dessert so much tastier than traditional apple pie. 

Here's what you need:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, divided use
Milk
1 cup butter

1-2 handfuls of Wheaties type cereal, crushed
6 to 8 tart green apples
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Granulated sugar for sprinkling 

Minus the Wheaties cereal...oops...

Combine 2 1/2 cups of flour, butter, and salt with a pastry blender. 

Separate egg; set aside egg white at room temperature. Put egg yolk into a measuring cup and fill with milk to measure 2/3 cup.  

Pour into the flour mixture and mix well.

Divide the dough in half and roll out on a lightly floured surface to fit a baking sheet with edges. Crush Wheaties with your hands and sprinkle over the bottom crust. Save the other half of the dough for the top crust. 

Peel, core and slice apples into bite sizes pieces. Arrange slices in side by side rows on unbaked bottom crust to make 1/2-inch layer. 

Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon and 4 tablespoons flour, mixing well. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the apples. 

Roll out the top crust and place over apple slices. Pinch and seal the edges.

Beat the egg white until stiff and spread over the top of crust. The egg whites are stiff when soft peaks can be formed. When I pulled the mixer beaters out, these are the peaks they created: 

Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar over egg white. Add a few slits for venting, and it's ready to bake!

Bake at 450* (230*C) for 10 minutes. Reduce to 400*F (205*C) and bake about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and cut into 2 1/2-inch bars.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pie

This is a nice simple strawberry pie recipe. The crust is easy to make and doesn't need to be rolled out! This does take 4-5 hours to set, so plan ahead!

Here's what you will need:

4 cups Strawberries
1 box Strawberry Junket
1 cup Flour
1 stick Margarine
2 T. Sugar

Start by combining the flour, sugar and margarine in a food processor (or by hand). Pulse until the mixture is crumbled, and pour into pie plate.

Loosely pat the mixture down with your hands to the shape of the plate.

Bake crust at 325* for 15-20 min or until golden brown. Then set aside, and slice the strawberries.

Once all of the strawberries are sliced, cook the Strawberry Junket while following the "Pie Glaze" recipe on the back of the package. It will start out neon pink like this:

As it nears a boil, it will get much darker, and end up like this:

Let the glaze cool slightly, and then fold in the sliced strawberries. Pour the strawberries and glaze into the crust, and refrigerate until the glaze is fully set. Serve and enjoy!

Text Only:

Ingredients:

4 cups Strawberries
1 box Strawberry Junket
1 cup Flour
1 stick Margarine
2 T. Sugar

Directions: 

1.) Preheat oven to 325*
2.) Combine flour, sugar, and margarine in food processor until small crumbs form.
3.) Loosely pat crumbs into pie plate and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
4.) Slice strawberries
5.) Cook Strawberry Junket according to package directions for Pie Glaze.
6.) Cool glaze slightly, and gently fold in strawberries.
7.) Add Strawberries to crust, and chill in fridge until fully set.

Oreo Truffles

I’m not sure how I managed to live over two decades without ever hearing about Oreo Truffles. They are perhaps one of the most simple and decorative desserts that one can make. They don’t require a lot of ingredients, dishes, or prep time; however, the results are delicious. These make a great snack for parties!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 – 16 oz package of Oreos (regular, not double stuffed)

8 oz Cream Cheese (I use reduced fat cream cheese and they still turn out great)

Almond Bark – chocolate or vanilla flavored

Chocolate Chips – chocolate and white chocolate

Directions:

First, you need to crush all of the Oreos. This is a great way to let stress out. I usually put all of the Oreos into a gallon sized Ziploc bag, and then use a rolling pin to crush the Oreos into crumbs. When you are done crushing the Oreos, put them in mixing bowl. Here’s what my finished Oreo crumbs looked like:

Next, add in the 8 oz of cream cheese and mix with a hand mixer until well blended like this:

Now the messy part...form the Oreo mixture into 1 inch diameter spheres and place them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. After you are done forming them, pop them in the fridge for about an hour so that they can firm up.

Right before you take the truffles out of the fridge, start melting the chocolate for the coating. I like to use Almond Bark because it won't melt in your hands when you're eating the truffles. Melt about 3-4 squares of Almond Bark with a handful of matching chocolate chips at a time, you can always melt more as you go if you run out. I've discovered the hard way that if I just use Almond Bark, it doesn't glide over the truffles nearly as well as it does when I add in a few chocolate chips to the mixture. This is also why there isn't an exact amount of chocolate chips to add in, just toss about 1/4 of a cup in to help make the mixture smoother and more elastic.

Coat the truffle and then transfer it back to the cookie sheet. Once they're all coated, put them back in the fridge to assist in hardening the coating.

 Meanwhile, melt a contrasting color of chocolate to drizzle on the top. For this, just melt chocolate chips, no Almond Bark, because the chocolate chips are a softer chocolate that's easier to drizzle. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly and then put it in a decorating bag or if you don't have one handy, you can cut a very small corner off of a sandwich bag and use that.  Then, just drizzle the chocolate over the top of the truffles, let it cool/set, and you're all done!

I usually get about 50 truffles, more or less, depending on how many Oreos I sample for quality testing before I start. ;) Store these in an airtight container in the fridge.

The possibilities with these can be endless. You don't have to make spheres, you can make them whatever  shape you want! I made football truffles for the Super Bowl, and they were a big hit.

Text Only Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 – 16 oz package of Oreos (regular, not double stuffed)

8 oz Cream Cheese (I use reduced fat cream cheese and they still turn out great)

Almond Bark – chocolate or vanilla flavored (about 6-8 oz)

Chocolate Chips – chocolate and white chocolate (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of each)

Directions:

1.) Crush Oreos into small crumbs; place in mixing bowl.

2.) Add 8 oz. cream cheese, mix until well blended.

3.) Roll into 1 in diameter spheres or other shape of choice.

4.) Refrigerate truffles for one hour.

5.) Melt 3-4 oz of Almond Bark with about 1/2 cup of matching color chocolate chips.

6.) Dip truffles in chocolate and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

7.) Refrigerate until set.

8.) Melt contrasting color chocolate chips (about 3/4 cup); fill decoating bag

9.) Drizzle chocolate over truffles; allow truffles to set in fridge.

10.) Store truffles covered in refrigerator.   

Enjoy!