It has been just a little while since my last post… but I have valid reasons! I have been incredibly busy with school (who decided taking summer courses was a good idea????????), baseball (Adam and I both play on two seperate teams, so three or four nights a week we are at one game or another) and everything else you could think of. Adam and I went to Osoyoos for a weekened, there have been wedding showers for Adam’s cousin who is getting married this summer (next month!!) and Birthdays.

Yup, It was MY birthday this month =) In fact, a week ago. June 5. I decided this year I wasn’t going to make my own birthday cake, mainly because that was also a very busy weekend! The Friday night Adam had two baseball games, and then Saturday I was part of a fundraiser for our baseball team, and It also happened to be a Vancouver Canucks playoff game night! In case you didn’t notice, or are not from Vancouver, the Canucks are ALMOST the Stanley Cup Champions. We have one more game to stress over tomorrow night! We actually went downtown last night to take part in the festivities, but alas, we did not win. So there was no celebrating. Anyways, back to more important things, like my birthday =). So by the time Sunday rolled around, I was in no mood to make a cake. As well, back to summer school, who decides to have an assignment due on a Sunday!? Didn’t they realize it was my birthday… hehe.

So I woke up bright and early to finish an essay, and then spent the rest of the day celebrating. It is also my friend Alysha’s birthday the same day! Same name (spelt differently) and same birthday. A year apart. So we have spent the last few together for at least part of the day. We went and had our nails done with my mom, and then had lunch. Afterwards, Adam had planned dinner and a surprise. We drove to Stanley Park and enjoyed a ‘drink’ on the Seawall in plastic champagne glasses, and some dessert! He knows me well =) After that, we went to Seasons in the Park a beautiful restaurant in Queen Elizabeth Park. It was really delicious, and the view was awesome.

As you might remember, Adam wanted birthday pie for his birthday dessert. And I thought I would carry on the tradition and make myself some little hand pies. They were just so cute and I had been wanting to make them since last summer. We are also having our good friends over for dinner tonight, so obviously I needed to have something sweet for post-dinner discussion.

These are extremely easy, and I even made it with whole wheat flour to make it ‘healthy.’ It has fruit! And whole wheat flour, its gotta be good for you! You could do it with any fruit im sure, and I love how the little pies look like Sand Dollars! So cute.

This one  looks like it got bitten by a Vampire! hehe

Whole Wheat Strawberry Hand Held Pies

recipe for basic pie dough as I have used before here

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups whole wheat flour (or a mix of AP + WW)
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 8 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tbsp. very cold water

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix briefly to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and mix on medium-low speed to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the largest butter pieces are not much bigger than peas.  Mix in the cold water on low speed just until the dough comes together.
2. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

*makes about 7-8 hand held pies, double recipe for more

Strawberry Filling

• approximately 1 1/2 cups strawberries, cut into small pieces
• 3-4 tbs sugar, more or less as you desire
• zest of a lemon
• 1 *scant* tbs of flour

Directions:

In a small saucepan, on medium heat combine all ingredients. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, sitrring occasionally. Allow to thicken.

Once it has reached desired consitency, remove from heat and cool slightly.

******
To Assemble Hand Pies:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

*You may wish to have an egg wash, simply mix one egg with a splash of water and whisk. Alternatively, you can use water only*

Remove dough from refrigerator. Roll out onto slightly floured surface. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out disks. Place one disk on a greased cookie sheet, (optional, you can add a pinch of graham cracker crumbs on top to not get a soggy bottom), and using a spoon place a dollop of the strawberry filling in the middle leaving a border around it. Place another disk on top of the filling, and using your fingers pinch the sides together slightly. Some of the filling may ooze out, but that’s ok. Repeat for remaining disks and filling.

You may wish to use the egg wash or water, and brush the tops of the hand pies. You can also sprinkle with sanding sugar, or regular granulated sugar. Use a knife to create vents in the top carefully.

Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes depending on how brown you would like them. I took them out at 20 minutes, however if you decide to use regular AP flour, they may take a little longer to become flaky and golden brown.

Once baked, let cool slightly on pan and carefully transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy! These would be delicious with a scoop of ice cream!

These last couple weeks have been just crazy! Lots of school and trying to sort out my life. I am so excited that I’m going to be graduating next year with my Bachelors Degree. I have so much I want to do once I graduate and once I have more free time! I’m already planning on painting for the two weeks I have off between Spring and Summer semester. And I’ve also been doing some DIY projects around the apartment, as well as cooking and baking lots. I have been trying to re-do my website, and hopefully it will be finished in the coming months. I wanted to add some new pages for DIY projects, and other more general content rather than food related. I have a new addiction as well, Apartment Therapy. Have you been to it? You should. I do could spend countless hours on there. I just love decorating and all things home related. I’m noticing lots of bloggers have been posting about their homes, apartments etc and the before and after photos. I just can’t get enough of it. I could really spend every waking hour blogging, cooking, and re-decorating. But, school has to fit in there somewhere…and it is usually top priority. Usually.

I am also super super excited to start playing baseball again this year! I had played all my life, but of course once I graduated I stopped a year after. I tried to keep it up but lots of girls couldn’t fit it into their schedule and showing up to the field only to forfeit because there weren’t enough players sucked. So I hope this season is good. I mentioned that Adam and I went up to Whistler to celebrate his birthday last weekend, and now this weekend we are celebrating again. He’s spoiled. And he knows it ;)

I asked him what he wanted most for his birthday dessert, and he said pie. I couldn’t make anything on the night of his birthday due to school, although I did end up making homemade pizza and then some cinnamon rolls for dessert. I even put a candle in one and sang him happy birthday. But now we’re having some of our friends over for a ‘bring-your-own-toppings’ pizza party. And of course, what goes best with pizza pie? An apple pie of course!

I’ve posted in the past about the easiest pie dough, and it really is. It’s so simple. I actually had two dough batches frozen in the freezer, so it was even easier. I just took them out of the freezer last night, and left them in the fridge. I took them about for about 30 minutes prior to rolling them out and it was ready to go.

Today it’s actually sunny here in Vancouver. And it’s the opening day soccer game for the Vancouver Whitecaps! Great day for a game!

Basic Pie Dough

Yield: one 9-inch pie crust (double for double crusted pie)

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 8 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tbsp. very cold water

Directions:

1. Combine the flour and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix briefly to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and mix on medium-low speed to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the largest butter pieces are not much bigger than peas.  Mix in the cold water on low speed just until the dough comes together.
2. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  (This dough can be frozen for up to 2 months.)  Remove from the refrigerator.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface.  Use as directed in your desired pie recipe.

Tips for Apple Pie

Over the years I’ve read lots of tips on how to make a great apple pie. Here are a couple I think are key

• Sprinkle a tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs on the bottom pie crust before filling it with the apples. This way, the crumbs absorb extra sauce from the apples and you won’t get a soggy bottom crust.
• Use lots of butter! And Shortening. I use a 1/4 cup of shortening as well as the butter it calls for. It makes for a super tender and flaky crust.
• I highly suggest an egg wash. In a small bowl, whisk together one eggs a dash of water and a few tsp. of sugar. Using a pastry brush apply it to the top of your pie crust. This will give it that golden look, and help keep it flaky without drying out. You can also sprinkle some extra sugar on top of it just before putting it in the oven to make it shimmer.
• Use lots of apples. Don’t skimp. It should have a slightly domed look once the top crust is on. And make sure you cut some ‘vents’ in the top as well.

All of these will provide you with a super delicious pie! And, of course serve it with some Vanilla ice cream!

Finally! A post. It’s been a while. It feels good to be blogging. I’ve been mostly pre-occupied reading novels and writing essays rather than blog posts. But, that’s what happens when a semester starts up again. This time I’m taking five classes, four English and one Geography. It’s a lot of reading but I’m still enjoying it.

It’s been quite a lovely September and October so far here in Vancouver. It’s almost been nicer weather than most of the summer months. I’m not complaining. Well, ok, I complain on the days when I wake up at 6:30 for an 8:30 class, and by the time it is 2:30 on my way home it’s almost 20 degrees out! I wouldn’t mind, only that when I wake up, its cold, so I layer on some sweat shirts, and big boots and maybe sweatpants. Then, on the walk home in the afternoon uphill, it’s scorching! Needless to say, I definitely tear off all the layers when I get home. I have been baking and cooking quite a lot actually since I’ve moved. My boyfriend was sick for a couple weeks, so It gave me my first oppourtunity ever to make chicken noodle soup! Of course I’ve had it in the past, it was just that I’m usually the sick one, and my mom made the soup for me! Now I get to be the one making the soup for someone else. I’ve also made numerous cookies, loafs, and dinners. Cooking for two is much easier than cooking for one, I think I tend to make more than enough, always. I’m like my dad in that way I suppose, he always did make enough food to feed an army when it was just the four of us.  And I also made an Apple Pie. Which, is the same crust recipe I’m going to share today. This weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada! So I’ve been baking up a storm!

Many people find baking pie crusts to be difficult. I have never been one myself to conquer pie crust. I have only made a handful of pies so far, and I always seemed to produce a not-so-flaky hardened crust. The delicious filling always made up for it though. But I was determined to try and make a flaky buttery crust. I found this recipe over on Annie’s Eats and I tried it when I made my Apple Pie. And let me tell you, It works. 100%. This coming from a non-pie baker. If you follow the steps its quite easy. And I’m certain you will create a delicious crust for any pie.

What you’ll need: Flour, Sugar, Cold Butter and Cold Water.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Then, add the butter and combine until small pea-sized pieces form.

Add the water, and mix until just combined.

Divide into balls, (I doubled the recipe) and cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out dough, and drape over 9″ pie plate. (The reason I have little brown flakes is because I had put away my AP Flour and so I just used some whole-wheat to dust my counter top when I rolled it out)

Cut off the excess edges and crimp the edges as you like! Easy as pie =)

Basic Pie Dough

Yield: one 9-inch pie crust*

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tbsp. very cold water

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix briefly to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and mix on medium-low speed to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the largest butter pieces are not much bigger than peas.  Mix in the cold water on low speed just until the dough comes together.
2. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  (This dough can be frozen for up to 2 months.)  Remove from the refrigerator.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface.  Use as directed in your desired pie recipe.

*Double the recipe for a double crust pie.