The Results Are In

Yesterday I left you with fair warning that I was going to fiddle a bit with the recipe for Norwegian Apple Pie. It just so happened there was a perfectly good window of time this afternoon for me to make good on that threat. I could have taken a picture of the result but it would have looked just like the photo illustrating yesterday's post and you would have been dizzied with feelings of deja whooptie-vu. Which is why I decided to go with the above photo of another food experiment. Fortunately for all of us, my results worked out a lot better than Mr. Pup's.

I won't repeat the recipe here since you only have to go back one post. The main idea was to use a different flavoring -- I used 1 teaspoon of lemon extract instead of vanilla -- and to see if I could get away with using less sugar. By golly, I think I did. Instead of 3/4 cup of sugar, I used 1/2 cup. There seemed to be slightly less volume in the batter but that was okay. Didn't cause any problems. I was glad to see the tender-crispy crust was still produced even with the smaller portion of sugar. It wasn't quite as robust as the previous crust -- almost a ghost of its former self, you might say. But that's okay, too. It still made an elegant topper for the whole shebang. And, yes, the lemon flavor was lovely with the apples.

How about that? We now have two perfectly fine versions of a scrumptious dessert and our only problem is going to be which one to choose. I can live with problems like that.

AWOL No Longer

Okay, so I've been AWOL for a bit. I do that every now and then. It allows me to feel wickedly irresponsible if I can mount a minor rebellion against order once in awhile. Some fun and interesting things have happened and I'm sure I'll manage to inflict all the bits and pieces on you in due time. For tonight, however, I bring a gift to reward your patience. That's one way of putting it. Another way to put it is admit to bribery and corruption to avoid scolding. Whatever works, you see.

The gift? The most amazingly luscious dessert, that's what. What you see up there in the photo is known as Norwegian Apple Pie. Y'all may already know about it. I didn't, until I stumbled across it the other day in some Google valley or another and said to myself, "Hey, this might be interesting."

And it is. Interesting, I mean. For one thing, although many recipes lend themselves to endless variations, the Norwegian Apple Pie recipe is almost always the same, no matter which link you click. The main difference I was able to find is that some recipes called for an egg while others required 2 egg whites. Should you choose to do the latter version, you beat the egg whites stiff and then add the other ingredients.

I'm not sure why it's called a pie. It's really fruit wrapped in batter for a tender, moist cake but it's supposed to be baked in an 8-inch pie pan so maybe it's just undergoing an identity crisis. I don't have an 8-inch pie pan so I used my trusty Corning Ware bowls which measure 5 1/2 inches and, as you can see, that works just fine. As it bakes, it forms a thin, tender-crispy top crust of a light tan color. Underneath, the cake part is a rich gold, bursting with fruit and, should you want them, nuts. Here's how it goes:

NORWEGIAN APPLE PIE

1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (walnuts or pecans)
1 cup diced apples

Beat first four ingredients together until well blended. Beat in flour. Fold in diced apples (one Granny Smith worked out just right.) and nuts. (I didn't have any nuts so added 1/2 cup dried cranberries.) Spread batter in buttered 8-inch pie pan and bake at 350 degrees fairyheight for 30 minutes. Can be served hot or cold, topped with ice cream or whipped cream or whatever -- or nothing at all. Reheats easily by nuking for a minute in the microwave.

I've gotta tell you -- this is really wonderfully tasty for such a simple and easy recipe. Yes, I know -- that's an awful lot of sugar. I expect that bit could be toned down with your preferred sugar substitute but I don't know what that would do for the texture or that rather special top crust. It might be worth experimenting to see if 1/2 cup of sugar would work as well. I was thinking the next one I bake, I'm going to use lemon extract instead of vanilla so I'll try it with less sugar at the same time and let you know how it goes.

No, no, don't thank me. I'm willing to brave the hordes of raging calories in our continuing search for satisfying sinful food without guilt. Somebody's gotta do it.

P.S. Thanks, Becky, for catching what I missed in the recipe. You were correct: it's "cup." As in "1/2 CUP nuts." Have another cuppa. You earned it.

Humbled by Excess

HEAD SYBARITE REPORTING FROM DECADENCE CENTRAL: This, Coffee Mates, is what happens when you get carried away and forget to moderate your immoderate behavior. That breathtaking pie in the above photo is the banana cream pie I mentioned in last night's post. It really should have been topped with whipped cream but all I had handy was a partial tub of Cool Whip that had been lurking in the freezer for months. It tasted somewhat flat and greasy and there was no way I was going to sully a perfectly good pie with something like that. (Radiating Huffy and Self-righteous.) No. A different topping entirely was surely required. Which is why I hunted down a recipe for hot fudge sauce and used that as topping.

I went too far.

Separately, each component of the above semi-masterpiece was wonderful. Really. Up to a certain point, the combination of components worked in a grand complementary chorus that added dimension to the whole. Until I added the choccy topping. Never thought I'd say this but, truthfully, the topping was -- uhmm -- over the top. Mae West assured us there was no such thing as "too much of a good thing." She was wrong. Darn it.

With that caveat, I will share the recipes for each of the aforementioned components. It is up to you to maintain the self-discipline to use the hot fudge topping on ice cream, where it belongs.

Have you ever been in the mood for a pie but just didn't feel in the mood to mess with the muss and fuss of a crust? Yeah, me too. Which is why I decided to go for a shortbread crust that went directly from mixing bowl to pie pan and could be patted into place. It goes like this:

SHORTBREAD PIE CRUST

1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup ground nuts
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients together. (For nuts, I used honey-roasted cashews with sesame seeds. Just drop your choice of nuts in a blender and pulse them until they're the texture of corn meal.) Add butter and vanilla and mix until dough gathers together and cleans the sides of the bowl. Drop into lightly buttered pie pan and press into place as evenly as possible. Prick crust with fork and chill in freezer for 15 minutes or refrigerator for a 1/2 hour. This will keep the crust from poofing up so you don't have to blind bake it. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until it becomes golden brown. Let cool before filling. This is how it will look when you're done.

Okay, next step is the filling. Something easy and quick but high in the delicious factor. For that, I would urge you to click over to the BellaOnline site where Karen Hancock has an outstanding recipe for microwave cream pie along with some of the several variations possible -- including the banana version I did. I only had to use two bananas, chopped and tossed with lemon juice, to fold into the filling. Oh -- it only took 3 minutes to cook the filling (I boiled the milk on the stove.) and I gave it a good whisking at the end of each minute.

Okay. Pie crust -- check. Filling -- check. Topping -- ahhhh. I really believe this project would have been rendered a complete success had I used a light, fresh whipped cream topping. But, nooooo, I had to commit a chocolate felony. Ah well. At least I did end up with a most excellent recipe for fudge topping. And here it is:

MICROWAVE HOT FUDGE SAUCE

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 cup cold brewed coffee
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients together, then whisk in coffee. (You can use water or, for a richer sauce, milk or cream.) Microwave 1 minute, whisk well, microwave 1 minute more. The sauce should be nicely thickening now. Whisk in the butter and microwave another 30 seconds. If it's now the degree of thickness you want, add the vanilla, whisk and serve. (The original recipe specified "2 to 4 minutes" cooking time. Your mileage may vary.)

After I made the sauce (which is every bit as good as it looks), I let it cool while I sipped a mug of coffee. Then I pulled the pie out of the refrigerator and slathered the fudge sauce on top, trying not to moan with anticipation. Then I chopped up a handful of the candied pecans and artfully scattered them over everything. What followed was a dutiful photographic session, cutting the first slice out of the pie and sitting down with a fork and a healthy degree of lust.

Well, it's delicious and scrumptious and ... and ... awesomely, overwhelmingly rich. See where I stopped to take the last photo? That's also where I stopped eating. Could not bring myself to take another bite. I have been blissed out and brought to my knees. Later tonight, I'm sure I can work up enough appetite to finish it off. And I've learned a valuable lesson.

Hot fudge topping is not for cream pies. It is for ice cream or for body painting.