Itty Bitty (Easy) Maple Pumpkin Hand Pies

Let's just make it public knowledge that when I include the word "easy" in a recipe, it really just means "made with store bought pie dough."  You don't even need Google Translate for that secret code.  

Part of me feels like I should be apologizing for liberally using store-bought dough but...... I'm not sorry?  I'm just not people.  I mean, it's not to say that I don't want to master homemade dough.  I do, I really do.  But in the meantime I'll happily continue on my way with the store bought kind.  

Cranberry Cocoa Galette

More galettes!  Full disclosure, I make galettes because I'm too lazy to make pie.  And that's the truth.  I just have more confidence with galettes.  You sorta can't mess them up.  Except you probably could a little, I'm sure.  If it's possible, I'll find a way.

So does it go without saying that I totally cheated on this one and used store-bought crust again?  I think you can just assume that's what I'm always doing at this point.  It's not that I don't enjoy time spent in the kitchen (I'd be way off course with a baking blog if I didn't enjoy it), but some nights I can't commit to the the kind of time needed for a homemade crust.  I mean, who will watch all the TV?!  Think of the TV!    

And what's even lazier about this galette is that cranberries don't need any peeling, coring or chopping. I think I had this baby in the oven within 5 minutes.  I think I'll start only using fruits that require no preparation now.  So that leaves me with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and..... peas?  Maybe not my best idea.  

However, being that most of my experience with cranberries growing up was canned and cylindrically shaped, I still like to think this is quite a sophisticated dessert.  It's just subtly sweet with a bite from the cranberries and cocoa.  Sprinkled with a little powdered sugar, it practically screams Christmas.  Or, "cheater!" with the pie crust and all.  

Here's the recipe!  

Ingredients: 

1 round of store-bought pie crust (or use your favorite recipe!) 

2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cold salted butter, cut into small pieces

powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions:  

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon baking sheet and set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, combine the cranberries, cocoa, and sugar.  Stir to coat berries.  

3.  Unroll your dough onto the baking sheet and pile the mixture into the center of the dough, leaving about 2 inches around the perimeter.  You may have just a bit of the mixture leftover (I did).  Working your way around the dough, overlap the dough and pinch together until you've formed a tight parcel for the berries (see pictures above).  

4.  Dot cubes of butter over the top of the cranberries.  Bake for 40 minutes, turning the pan once or twice while baking.  Crust should be golden brown and filling will be bubble out.  Allow to cool completely.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.  

Enjoy!  

Recipe barely adapted from A Thought For Food    

Cookie Butter Pie

At this very moment I'm watching the best episode of Law & Order SVU ever.  I mean, I can watch hours long marathons of SVU and I'll admit that every so often there's sort of an oddball episode that I just caann'ttt quite get on board with.  Like the one where Benson and Stabler go undercover at a swinger's club to uncover a scheming couple who happen to actually be brother and sister.  Um what?

But man, this episode is a gem.  All you need to know is that it's got John Stamos.  Who has somehow managed to not age a day since the days of Uncle Jesse Katsopolis aside from a little salt and pepper hair.  And obviously, guys can pull off salt and pepper while I spend a fortune on dying my hair because of some dang grays that appeared at the old age of twenty three.  

Ok, no joke, as I type, this episode just got infinitely better.  {Spoiler Alert} John Stamos is a serial abusive reproducer who fathered 47 children and all of his girlfriends confronted him at once in the precinct.  Omg, wait, it's somehow getting better.  The domestic abuse psychologist murdered him?!

Guys, this is why I watch SVU.  It doesn't have to make sense.  It's got great guest stars, Ice T is a terrible actor, and Christopher Meloni has a kick ass tatto on his arm.  That's a recipe for show.  Oh wait, speaking of recipes.....

I forgot this was a baking blog for a moment.  But really this pie needs little description.  A crust made of oreos.  A filling made of cookie butter, cream cheese and Cool Whip.  Serve cold.  Eat seconds.  

Here's the recipe!  


Ingredients
Crust:
25 whole Oreos
4 Tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

1 cup "Cookie Butter" (or Biscoff spread)
1 package (8 Ounce) cream cheese, room temp
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 package (8 Ounce) Cool Whip, thawed

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Crush the Oreos until they’re fine crumbs (I used a small food processor and worked in batches).  Put crumbs in a medium bowl and pour the melted butter over the top and stir to combine.  Press into pie pan (I used a 9" pan) and bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, or until set.  Let cool.

2.  Beat the cookie butter with the cream cheese until smooth using a stand mixer or handheld mixer. Add the powdered sugar slowly and beat until smooth.  Add in the thawed Cool Whip and beat mixture again until smooth, making sure it's well incorporated.

3.  Pour filling into crust, evening out the top with a knife or spatula.  If desired, pipe additional filling on top.   Chill in the freezer for at least an hour before serving.  **see note

**A few notes.  Perhaps my pie pan was too small but I had quite a bit of filling that did not fit in the pan.  Thus, I was able to pipe some on top to make use of it.  You can either use a slightly larger pie pan or just what I did and eat the leftovers from the bowl.  

**I served this directly from the freezer (using a warmed knife to get clean slices) and it almost resembled ice cream cake.  A very very good thing.  

Enjoy!

Recipe barely adapted from The Pioneer Woman.  

Easy Apple Galette

So when I call this thing an "easy" Apple Galette, that's major code for "cheating on the pie crust."  I'm just not even a little bit sorry that I used store-bought crust here.  It was a busy day, I needed a quick dessert to serve 5 people and the crust got smothered in apples and butter and sugar.  If you can't get on board with that then what can you get on board with?

Obviously, you can make your own crust here if you had a few extra minutes and some patience.  In fact, I've made several other galettes using Martha Stewart's recipe (though it makes two rounds of dough) with great success.  But I had no extra minutes and zero patience and guess what?  No one was the wiser and everyone loved it.  

So being an impostor is worth it. Cuz I'll just never be one of those women (why do I feel weird calling myself a woman?  I'm still just a girl right?) who can go for a 3 mile run and look pleasantly dewey and refreshed or the type of woman who can just wear shorts in public, or the type of woman has regularly scheduled dental check ups.

I just don't have my act together enough to whip up some pie dough amidst a busy afternoon and lots of Law and Order to be watched.  So this is a free pass to cheat occasionally.  And use your free time to go for a run or have a dental check up or wear shorts in public.  Actually, don't wear shorts.  You're ruining it for the rest of us.  

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients: 
1 prepared 9 inch pie round
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
4 Tbsp granulated sugar

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.  Set aside.  
2. Place pie round in the center of the baking sheet.  Begin arranging the apples in overlapping concentric circles, beginning on the outside, leaving about an inch of dough along the edge.  There's really no right or wrong way to do this.  You're just looking to get apples in the dough and leave dough overhang to create a neat package.
3.  Once your apples are arranged, beginning folding the dough up and over the apples, overlapping dough and slighting pinching seams to form a tight package for the apples (see pictures).
4.  Brush or drizzle the melted butter over the apples and crust.  Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar over the crust and 2 tablespoons over the apples. 
5.  Bake for about 45 minutes, rotating the pan every 15 minutes until apples are baked and crust is golden brown.  Serve with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.  

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen