Caramel Week: Caramel Apple Pie

Iiittt'ssss..... CARAMEL WEEK!!

I have to admit that while caramels have been my favorite addition to chocolate for as long as I can remember (Rolos and Milky Ways were GOLD at Halloween). Recently, the hubster and I took a mini-vacation to a nearby mountain town, Leavenworth, WA. The town is just adorable - it's a Bavarian style village that always has string lights up and a decorated tree, year-round. While it's not for everyone, it's one of our favorite little get-away spots - close to some other friends, and just far enough away to give us a break. Do you have any spots like that??

On this recent trip, we found a chocolate shop we'd never found before: Schocolat. We tried some incredibly delicious, hand-made treats. In addition to the lovely chocolates (my favorite was an earl grey truffle - WHAT??), they also make a chocolate sauce and a caramel sauce. But the caramel sauce was not your ho-hum-run-of-the-mill jarred caramel sauce. Oh no. It is a scratch-made pear cinnamon caramel sauce. You can even buy if for yourself here (scroll down near the bottom).

The sauce was incredibly complex and, at first, I was at a loss with what to do with it. There are obvious things like drizzling on ice cream (which I don't eat), in hot cocoa, on the tops of cakes... But for the first treat that popped into my head was a caramel dutch apple pie. While I'm not great at crusts, I didn't want to risk a top AND bottom going wonky, so I chose a crumble topping, instead. This dough did not come together recipe - so if you have dough that works well for you, I suggest you go with what you know.

I demand pie, as well. K, thanks.

I really enjoy the extra salt in the crumble topping to offset the added sweetness the caramel adds. Any caramel sauce would be excellent in this pie, as well - jarred or scratch-made. The pie itself I adapted from a caramel apple pie recipe from Tyler Florence. The serving size for a heaping 9" pie is 4-6 servings. I laughed and laughed when I read that. Eight servings would be the minimum, based on how I normally eat pie. I ate one slice, gave two to Megan, then told the hubster he could eat at will. Within 18 hours (lunch the next day), there was one teensy sliver left. He managed to consume over half the pie as breakfast and lunch, meaning the suggestion of 6 serving sizes was eerily accurate.

I wouldn't recommend that two people consume an entire pie within 24 hours... but it happened. Good news: hubster actually liked a recipe. Bad news: he consumed the equivalent to a stick of butter on his own. He doesn't see a problem with this, though (maybe also a problem?). Looks like I'm going to have to better moderate his dessert portions...

In addition to this beautiful pie, a bunch of my closest blogging buddies are also participating and creating some delicious creamy caramel alternatives:

Monday--Comfortably Domestic-Crockpot Dulce de Leche / La Petite Pancake-Caramel Banana Bread Pudding

Tuesday--Decadent Philistines Save the World-Salted Caramel Pork Loin with Shaved Brussel Sprout and Apple Salad / Bakeaholic Mama-Chewy Rolo Brownies

Wednesday--Inside NanaBread's Head-Chocolate Alfajores with Salted Vanilla Bean Caramels / Comfortably Domestic-Alfajores Caramel Sandwich Cookies / The Girly Girl Cooks-Caramel Ice Cream Crunch Bars / Climbing Grier Mountain-Dulce de Leche Milkshakes with Caramel Drizzle

Thursday--Tenaciously Yours-Popcorn Crunch Sundae  / Kvetchin' Kitchen - Red Wine Caramel Sauce

Friday--Country Cleaver-Pear Caramel Mini Cheesecakes / Munching in the Mitten-Caramel Cake

Saturday--Comfortably Domestic-DIY Dulce de Leche Coffee Creamer

Caramel Apply Pie

Adapted from Tyler Florence and 365 Days of Baking & More
1/2 recipe of your favorite pie crust (or the one from Tyler Florence) - let it rest in the fridge while continuing

Prepare about 1/2 cup of caramel sauce (either store bought as I did or homemade). Set aside.

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Tablespoons melted butter

1 lemon, halved
8 Granny Smith Apples (or a combination of your favorites)
1 Tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1. In  a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, four, and cinnamon. Drizzle the melted butter over the mixture and use a fork or your fingers to cut together until well incorporated. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350* F. 
3. Fill a large bowl with cool water and squeeze the lemon into the water. Peel and core each apple and slice thinly by hand or with a mandolin. Add the slices to the water (the lemon prevents browning so you don't have to rush!)
4. On a well-floured surface, roll out your dough and press into a 9" pie pan.
5. Drain the apples and sprinkle with flour and cinnamon. Toss to make sure they're all coated.
6. Place one layer of apples in the dough. Dollop caramel all over the apples, then put another layer of apples over the caramel. Repeat until you run out of apples and and caramel. Dot the top of the pie with the remaining 1/4 cup butter.
7. Press the crumble over the top of the pie.
8. Place the pie on a baking sheet and pop into the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until top is deep golden brown.
9. Let the pie cool, then serve. It may be hard to resist - but cooling will REALLY help with cutting!
10. Enjoy!

Blasphemy Stack

If you're looking for a rabbi to send you to Jewish culinary hell... put pork on latkes. Cover it in dairy. I mean... the only way it could have been less Kosher was if I added shrimp and ate in a church. But you want to hear a secret...? It. Was. Incredible.

How did I get into this blasphemous position? I had a lot of leftover pulled pork - a position that I should not have been in, in the first place. But then I had a hankering for Hollandaise sauce. And if you give a mouse some hollandaise sauce, they're going to want it in benedict form. And what happens when that mouse is out of English muffins but has a bunch of russet potatoes? Latke benedict. Obviously.

Sorry for the dark photo! Nighttime photography strikes again.

 Seriously, 3.5 lbs of pork to feed two people for dinner (including third servings), and lunch for two days still leaves you with a bunch of left over pork. And I've been in a mood to cover everything in hollandaise sauce (despite the new year and half stick of butter per serving). Okay, so I do feel a little weird about putting it all on top of a latke, so just call it hashbrowns or blinis and we can all get over it. I also have to admit that this makes quite a mess in order to serve two people. It wouldn't make hardly any more mess to serve 4, or even 6 people. While I re-used a frying pan, there are basically 5 separate recipes using at least 3 pans and 2 appliances. And I had leftover latkes and leftover pork, and it was still a lot of work. Delicious, gut-bomb work.

This would be a great option for a rich dinner to stick to your ribs, or a great way to start off a weekend brunch if you don't plan on moving the rest of the day (but do plan on running a lot the day before and after - I refer you to the stick of butter in the hollandaise). In fact, with the runny yolks of a perfectly poached egg, you could possibly skip the decadent hollandaise and this stack would still be delicious.

Pulled Pork Benedict
(for two-ish servings)
The hollandaise recipe was adapted from my favorite cookbook

4 latkes (try about half of this recipe, or english muffins, or hashbrowns...)
2 egg yolks (at room temperature)
2 tsp half and half (not the skimpy fat free kind, either)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
dash of cayenne pepper
10 Tbls butter (melted and heated until bubbling but NOT browned)
2 tsp fresh lemon juice at room temperature
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 Tbl olive oil
2 cups fresh baby spinach
2 cloves of garlic (peeled and sliced very thinly)
Leftover Pulled Pork
4 eggs

1. Heat up the latkes in an oven at 350 degrees. Next, start on the hollandaise.
2. Put the egg yolks, half and half, salt, and cayenne in a blender. Blend on high speed until smooth and frothy, 2 - 3 seconds. While the blender is on high speed, add the hot butter in a thin, steady stream (it will start to thicken immediately). Next add the lemon juice, then the white wine vinegar. Season with salt to taste. Transfer the sauce to a microwave-safe bowl.
The next few steps will happen quickly, so get ready!
3. Remove the latkes from the oven and place two on each plate.
4. In a large pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and saute for about a minute. Then add the spinach and heat until just barely wilted, but still crisp. Remove from pan and set atop the latke.
5. In the same pan, heat up and add about a cup of pulled pork. Heat the pork for a few minutes, tossing occassionally. Once heated, place on top of the spinach.
6. While the pork is heating, bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan. Add a capful of white vinegar. Gently break 4 eggs individually into the pan, and poach for 2 minutes, being careful to keep the water at a simmer, not boil. Remove the eggs and put on top of the pork.
7. Microwave the sauce for about 10 seconds and stir the sauce (really, that's all it takes!). Spoon on top of the whole stack.

Indulge Enjoy!

Crab Scampi (And a rant typed from a claustophobic death tube)

Preface: The following was typed while flying at 31000 feet in a small, claustophobic plane from Dallas to Portland, on our approximately 5th rescheduled flight back from South America on a work trip.

If you follow me on Twitter (@kvetchnkitchen), you probably noticed last week that I was traveling for work. The location where I was working is quite difficult to get to – at least 3 flights. More flights come with an increased chance of delays and hiccups. Let’s face it – it’s hard enough with one flight. Though, to be honest I don’t remember the last time I took a single flight to get anywhere. It’s been at least a year, I think. Anywhere for work requires at least 2 (usually 3), and vacations are usually cheaper with a connection (even SEA à LAX, because who wouldn’t want to double trip time and fuel cost by laying over in Salt Lake City but it’s okay because it’s cheaper).

Anyways, I don’t want to gripe too much because I really do love my job, and I realize that I am very lucky to get these amazing travel experiences, even if it is just to spend 11+ hours working most days. But the trips to South America have been the most challenging. The country we visit has a small airport (4 gates). It averages about 4 incoming and 4 outgoing flights every day, and with the exception of Miami, it only services other South American countries. As it is late Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, thunderstorms are very frequent and prolonged. Basically, we were delayed several times over and I am writing this on a cramped plane that is on it’s 3^rd of 4 hours but for such a long flight, there is no sight of television monitor, in-arm entertainment, and I’ve drained the power reading on both my phone and iPad. So as I sit, going on hour 24 of travel time, tummy rumbling, I tend to fantasize about what I will make when I get home. Or what I can eat at the airport. Or if that cough drop in my bag will stop the grumbling. And it’s a bit much to spend $9 on a questionable Caprese salad.  And I would just like to add that trapping us on a flight with *zero* free entertainment options (not even a terrible, one-sided documentary?) and then charging $6 per hour for Wi-Fi, but not make charging ports available, is simple extortion. My butt hurts. My foot is asleep. And I want my two bites of stale pretzels that I am entitled to!

 

And the previous rant has nothing to do with anything except that I’m hungry on this plane and wrists are contorted into weird typing angles as the man in front of my has his seat fully reclined into my personal bubble and I have no idea what I’m actually typing. Anyway, onto to the recipe I made before I left on my work trip. This recipe combines some of my most favoritest things (in no particular order): butter, garlic, pasta, and crab. And because I was feeling guilty, I added some zucchini into the final sauté. The recipe itself has no special story except to say that one day I wanted shrimp scampi because of my love for butter and garlic, but then the grocery store had a special on crab, so I went for it.

Note – I was able to find quality, shelled crab at a decent price. If you cannot, and want to splurge, find a nice whole crab and go through the work of steaming and shelling (which I certainly would have done because I am obsessed). If not, you can substitute shrimp, or even some nice boned white flake fish (like cod… Cod scampi? This post is counterproductive because now I’m hungrier than ever and we still have 45 minutes until our descent). If you choose the fish, add it halfway through the zucchini sauté and then add a lid to the pan to let it steam.

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (stop with the judgey eyes – SURPRISE: scampi is mostly butter. Let’s move on.)

1/2 head of garlic, peeled and minced [about ¼ cup] (use fresh, please. I will admit to using jarred on many blasphemic occasions, but never in scampi)

1 large onion, diced (Yellow, brown, or sweet are all fine here)

2 cups dry white wine, divided (one in a measuring cup, one in a wine glass)

2 lemons, juiced

pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

dash of Tapatío

dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 large zucchini, halved and thinly sliced

half box of angel hair pasta (you may use whole wheat if that will make your conscience feel better, but to be honest it won’t do much for that stick of butter you already put in your pan)

8 oz fresh crab meat, picked through for shells

1 Tbls packed fresh basil, thinly sliced 

1.     Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

2.     In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

3.     Once all melted and starting to foam, add the diced onion. Salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to turn translucent, but before the butter starts to burn. Reduce the heat, if necessary.

4.     Add the garlic, and cook a few minutes, until fragrant.

5.     Add 1 cup of wine (have you been drinking the other?), and cook just until the alcohol evaporates (usually about 2-3 minutes). Add the lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and dashes of Tapatío and Worcestershire sauces, to taste.

6.     Add the angel hair to the boiling water and cook per package directions (usually about 4 minutes).

7.     Add the zucchini to the scampi mixture. Toss to combine, and cook until zucchini is tender (usually just about the same time as the pasta takes to cook).

8.     Add the crab to scampi, and toss to combine. Toss to combine, place a lid on the pan, and turn off the heat (but leave the pan on the burner). Let the carry-over heat warm the crab while you drain the pasta.

9.     Personal preference: I like to toss the pasta and the whole scampi mixture together in the large pasta pot. Serve, finishing with the basil.