Prize Winning Caramel Apple Pie

This is one of my favorite desserts and I know you will LOVE it.  Honey would be seriously disappointed if I didn’t share that I did win 1st place in the pie division with this recipe.  It almost always disappears in the blink of an eye at family gatherings and is just down right yummy. This year, the Chocolate Truffle Pie was the first to go but the Caramel Apple was gone by dinner.  More on the Chocolate Truffle Pie soon.  I sadly didn't take any pictures and wanted to make sure it was a winner before I shared it with y'all.  

Prize Winning Caramel Apple Pie

After trying several recipes, I found fabulous inspiration on Allrecipes.com HERE.  I tweaked it to adjust it how I love it and hope y’all will enjoy this family holiday staple. 

Prize Winning Caramel Apple Pie

1 unbaked double pie crust

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

7-8 Granny Smith apples, peeleKd, cored, and thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Melt butter in a saucepan.  Stir in flour to form a past.  Add water, sugar, and brown sugar and bring to boil.  Reduce temperature to low and let caramel simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and add cinnamon and vanilla.  

Place the bottom crust into the bottom of your greased deep dish pie pan. Fill with apples and mound the apples slightly.  Pour about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of caramel sauce on top of apples.  Cover apples with lattice work from second pie crust.  Gently pour remaining sauce over lattice and let sauce seep into pie.  Pour slowly.  Seriously, pour slowly to ensure that the sauce does not make a huge mess and waste precious yummy goodness.  Using a pastry brush, gently cover lattice work with sauce.  This will make your crust AMAZING.  

Bake 15 minutes in your preheated oven.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degress and bake an additional 35-45 minutes until sauce bubbles.  It is hard to know if your apples are tender.  I suggest placing your pie toward the bottom of your oven to keep the top from burning.  

This pie is AMAZING.  Promise.  You and your family will love it.  Honey cannot wait to have a piece and I had to bake this without him around to obtain decent pictures that don’t include a fork getting a bite of pie.  

A Tale of Two Pecan Pies - Chocolate Pecan Pie & Caramel Pecan Pie

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved Thanksgiving and especially loved dessert, but didn't love pecan pie because, "It gets stuck in my teeth and on the top of my mouth!!!".  The little girl grew up and decided to make her own pecan pies WITHOUT the sticky syrup stuff.  And so begins the 'Tale of Two Pecan Pies'.

I have worked on and tweaked this recipes for a while before sharing them with y'all.  I imagine I will continue tweaking them because, well, that's just how I roll.  Thankfully, Honey and the children don't seem to mind.  I always know when I've found the 'perfect' combination because my taste testers always let me know.  This weekend, I found what I think is the perfect combination for one of these pies and pretty darn close for the other.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon milk (I use skim because that is what's in the fridge)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy and stir in melted butter.  Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar and flour; mix well.  Last add milk, vanilla, and nuts; mix well.  Place prepared pie crust into a greased deep dish pie plate.  Evenly distribute mini chocolate chips on top of the pie crust.  Pour sugar, butter, pecan mixture into your unbaked pie shell on top of chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and 325 for 20 minutes or until done.  Make sure you place your pie toward the bottom 1/3 of your oven so the top of your pie doesn't burn.

If you are feeling a little adventurous add about 3 tablespoons of bourbon to your mixture before baking.

What you will need

What your pre-baked pie will look like

Baked Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

 I think that this recipe has just the right combination of chocolate, pecans, and buttery goodness without the sticky syrup.  Hope y'all enjoy!

Caramel Pecan Pie

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup of Smucker's Caramel Ice Cream topping
1 1/2 cup pecan halves
1 9 inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine caramel sauce, butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat and stir until smooth.  Remove from heat and set aside.  In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Gradually mix in melted caramel mixture.  Stir in pecans.  Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.  Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and the pie sets.

What you will need for your Caramel Pecan Pie

Baked Caramel Pecan Pie

Caramel Pecan Pie

Both Pies Side by Side

 So how do the two compare?  The Caramel Pecan Pie looks prettier baked and slices easier, but the taste of the Chocolate Pecan Pie wins.  I distributed slices of both to the neighbors for their opinions.  Honey and the neighbors loved both pies but declared that the Chocolate Pecan was just a little better.

Y'all let me know what y'all think! Now, I'm off to clean house.

Hope

Yummy Pumpkin Gooey Cake

This is terrible I know, but I am just not a fan of traditional pumpkin pie.  I like the idea of pumpkin desserts and the taste of pumpkin, but traditional pumpkin pie itself is just not my favorite.  This Pumpkin Gooey Cake recipe is an amazing, delicious twist on a Thanksgiving staple.

Because I just love to bake, I am usually responsible for a few desserts for the family Thanksgiving gathering.  A few years ago, I felt bad for never including pumpkin pie in the dessert line-up because it's tradition to have a pumpkin dessert on the table.  And so my search began for the 'perfect' alternative to pumpkin pie to serve at Thanksgiving.  I found this Paula Deen recipe HERE and with a couple of alterations, had what I think is one of the very best pumpkin desserts.  I make this every year around to first of October to give as teacher and neighbor gifts and almost always get asked for the recipe.  I promise, you will not be disappointed.

What you need to make Pumpkin Gooey Cake

Pumpkin Gooey Cake

One 18 1/4 oz package of yellow cake mix
1 egg
6 tablespoons of butter, melted (Paula calls for 8 tablespoons but I have found it to be a little too buttery with 8)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine ingredients and mix well.  I always use my hand mixer because it works better than hand mixing for this recipe.  Pat your 'crust' mixture into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  I have found that glass dishes work best for this recipe.

Press your crust into the pan as shown above

Topping -

One 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened (I always use Neufchatel Cheese and I promise you can't tell the difference.  You MUST wait for the cream cheese to soften or your filling will be clumpy.  Yes, I know from experience.)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
5-6 tablespoons of butter, melted (again, Paula calls for 8 tablespoons but the mine works better with less because of the pumpkin puree)
One 16 oz box of powdered sugar
15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
1 tsp. cinnamon

Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Add butter, pumpkin and cinnamon and mix until smooth.  Slowly add powdered sugar and mix well.  Spread topping mixture over 'crust' mixture in pan. Bake for 50 minutes.  You want the center to be a little gooey so don't over bake.  Not over baking can be a little tricky with this dessert.  Some tricks I have learned are to make sure you preheat the oven first - no skipping this part.  Also, do not put your pan on the bottom rack because you don't want the crust to harden too much.  I usually move my center rack to the second rung so it's closer to the top but not too close.

What your pre-baked cake will look like with the topping added

I really hope y'all enjoy this dessert.  Please let me know how it works for you and if you family like it as much as mine!

Hope

Pumpkin Gooey Cake - YUMMY!

Candy Corn Pretzel Bark

Sign up to take a sweet treat for the Halloween Party at school or want to take something cute to the office to share tomorrow?  I have just the thing for you!

I found this recipe at I Heart Naptime and took it to the 1st grade pumpkin party last week.  Several moms asked me for the recipe so I thought y'all might like it.

Candy Corn Pretzel Bark
1 bag of pretzels (I love the Snyder's square snaps)
1 (11 oz.) bag of Caramel bits
1 (16 oz.) package of Vanilla candy coating or white chocolate
1 (9 oz.) bag of Candy Corn flavored M & Ms

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or wax paper (I almost never have wax paper) and place pretzels on pan side by side. Make sure the pretzels are touching.  Melt caramel in a microwavable bowl according to package directions. ** TIP - Caramel is not like chocolate that seems to stay hot.  You will most likely have to reheat a few times after you spoon out caramel over the pretzels.  The caramel hardens quickly.  Stir caramel until smooth and then spoon caramel over each individual pretzel.

Melt the vanilla coating in the microwave according to package directions. ** You have to be very careful with chocolate in the microwave.  It burns quickly & then the entire batch is ruined.  (Yes, I know from experience.) Pour the coating over the caramel and spread evenly. Immediately place M&M's or candy corn on top. The chocolate helps the M & Ms to stick.  Allow candy to harden and then cut into pieces.

Below is today's attempt.  I am taking the bark to the teacher's lounge tomorrow as a treat. 

Here is what you need

My Caramel wasn't very even.  My youngest needed my help with something which caused the caramel to harden

Vanilla coating

Finished Candy Corn Caramel Pretzel Bark!