Best Apple Pie

CRUST:

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 c.)

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

3-5 T. milk

Using a fork, mix butter with flour and salt until it resembles crumbs. Drizzle in the milk bit by bit, blending with a fork until it just sticks together. (You may not need all the milk.)

Divide the dough in two pieces, one a bit larger than the other, to be the lower crust. Pat the pieces into disc shapes and cover with plastic wrap. Chill at least 20 minutes.

FILLING:

4 c. chopped, peeled apples (about 6 small apples)

3/4 c. frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed (1/2 of a 12-oz. can)

2 T. flour

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 420° F. In a large bowl, combine the apples, juice, flour, and cinnamon. Roll out the larger crust and press into a 9" pie plate. Add the apple mixture. Dot with butter bits. Roll out the smaller crust for the top. Moisten the edges of the lower crust with a little water and add the top crust. Press down the edges with a fork or your fingers (or crimp as desired). Make several slits in the top crust. Bake at 420° for 30 minutes; check pie and cover rim with foil if already brown. Reduce oven heat to 335° F and continue baking for about 30 minutes, or until a little juice is coming out of the slits.

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

NOTE: Depending on your apples, this pie might taste a bit sour.

Courtesy of Penzeys Spice catalog

CCMM Cookies

1/2 c. butter
1 c. butter substitute (I used this because it's cheaper than butter; if you want to use 3 sticks of butter, go right ahead.)

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar

3 T. vanilla (okay so I like a lot of vanilla--the original recipe calls for 2 T.)

3 eggs

5 1/2 c. flour (again, I increased this amount--the original calls for 4 c.)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. miniature M&M's

Cream butter and butter substitute; cream in sugar, then brown sugar. Continue creaming and add eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; fold in chocolate. Cover tightly and refrigerate for two days. (I'm serious: this is important!)

Heat oven to 375°F. Remove dough from refrigeration; allow to warm while oven is heating. When oven is hot and dough is workably warm, drop by teaspoonful 2 inches apart on paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes; watch carefully to ensure proper baking time. (My first batch was underdone and the next was overdone. And then there were some WAY overdone cookies; and finally the last batch I baked were perfect. But I froze some of my dough, so we'll see how they bake up.)

Yield: 5-8 dozen, depending upon size of cookies--and how much dough you eat while baking them!

Note: K and I made this original recipe together, once upon a time. It inspired this blog post.

Because of Jesus Christ,

H

Guacamole

There they were. Strategically placed, beside the tomatoes in the supermarket. Softly whispering my name. And in that moment I realized that I must, must, must buy some avocados to make guacamole. And so was born this recipe--if you can call it that. ;)

3 avocados, with skins and cores removed

1 tomato, chopped finely (approximately--my sister was chopping tomatoes and I used what I thought to be 1 tomato's worth of chopped pieces)

1 c. plain yogurt (again, approximate--I used what was left in the carton, which appeared to be about a cup but might have been less. Sour cream can also be used.)

garlic powder

black pepper

tortilla chips (Hooray for blue corn tortilla chips! So colorful!)

Mash avocados until smooth. Blend in yogurt; add tomato. Season to taste with garlic powder and black pepper. (Also add onion powder and salt if desired.)

Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

My friend J said that she uses avocados and salsa, only, to make guacamole. It really is up to you, and to your personal tastes. (We mixed this guacamole with salsa--also delish.) Also, thanks to M, whom I watched make guacamole and therefore who taught me what to put in it.

And one more note before I leave: use this within two days, because the tomato runs and turns the guacamole brown--ick!

Because of Jesus Christ,

H

Simple Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie-Bars

Read my comment on this post to see the modifications necessary to make these bars.

Banana Nut Bread

This is my new favorite banana bread! It seems that after a while, my stand-by recipe gets old. Then a quest for a new b-bread recipe begins. That may end now. The last search began because my then-present recipe had too many ingredients. So I looked for something simpler, and here it is! This recipe is from ELT, the 1930's cookbook. I didn't change a thing. (I didn't even correct the grammatical errors!)

1/2 c. fat

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

3 crushed bananas

2 c. whole-wheat flour

1 t. soda

1/4 c. nut meats

Crush bananas and whip until very light. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then flour, soda and nuts. Add bananas. Turn into a well greased bread pan. Bake in a moderate oven at 350° for 1 hour.

I never used to like nuts in banana bread. But in the spirit of following the recipe precisely, I added them as directed. It was so delicious that way! Although I may add cinnamon next time, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Because of Jesus Christ,

H

Happy birthday, MC!

As of tomorrow, Morsels of Chocolate will be one year old! As we reach this milestone, I must confess a discovery: I do not try new recipes as much as I used to think I did. I thought this blog would be bursting with new recipes every week; but the fact is that I use the same old favorite recipes time and again. When a new recipe is tried, I might like it; but it will probably fall back into obscurity until I have a taste for something different again. As my family knows, the desserts I make the most are variations on the brownies theme. So as MC enters another year, I can't promise more recipes than before. I can only say that I, and K with me, hope you will keep checking back for more--because new recipes will get posted eventually!

Here are some random MC statistics:

*There are two contributors, although one of them rarely posts anything. ;)

*We have seven followers! Although I suspect that in reality, we have only two. At least, we have only two who leave comments. Thank you, Preciosa and Angela, and keep the comments coming!

*There have been around 60 posts, although not all of them are recipes.

*Main dish recipes are rare around here; mostly we post desserts. (But what did you expect, considering our name?)

Because of Jesus Christ,
H

Cake Decorating Idea