Lucky Leaf® Apple Galette with Maple Cream

Krista G. representing Lucky Leaf® gave me two full-size cans of Lucky Leaf® Apple Pie Filling and Strawberry Pie Filling as well as a Lucky Leaf® cook book—which contains contest-winning recipes that were tested and approved by the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen.  She asked me to test the recipes out in my own kitchen, and tell her (and others) what I thought.

From the Lucky Leaf® cook book, I followed the idea of their Blueberry Galette with Lime Marscarpone Cream to create this Apple Galette with Maple Cream.  Why didn't I just make the Blueberry recipe?  Well, I didn't have the blueberry filling, nor the lime, whipping cream, or mascarpone cheese.  I did, however, have on hand, without any special trips to the store, the can of Lucky Leaf® Apple Pie Filling, cream cheese, half-n-half, and grade B Maple sirup.  So I went to work!

The Lucky Leaf® recipe called for one rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crust.  I didn't have one of those either, so I quickly stirred up my own.  It took me a whole 5 minutes to make enough dough for two crusts.

HERE'S THE QUICK & FLAKY PIE CRUST

• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons salted butter, COLD, cut into cubes
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons ice cold water

In a food processor, pulse the cold butter cubes and flour, for about 5 seconds.  DO NOT cut the butter into the flour until pea size clumps form.  That's too much.
Through the top feeder add the ice cold water, blend until dough ball forms and pulls away from the sides.  Transfer to lightly floured surface.  Use just enough flour to keep your hands from sticking to the dough but try not to work it into the dough; form a ball then flatten evenly to cut into half.  Wrap one half of the dough in freezer bag and store in frig or freezer for next time.

With the remaining dough, dust rolling pin with flour and roll dough to make a 10-inch circle or close enough.  You might notice my rolling is not perfect, but it won't matter in the end.  You'll see.

NEXT! YOU NEED...

• 1 (21 ounce) can Lucky Leaf® Apple Pie Filling
• 1/2 tablespoon half-n-half or milk
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• cinnamon to sprinkle over crust

Heat the oven to 400ºF.

Using your best baking sheet, take a cold stick of butter and rub a generous 10-inch baking area on the sheet.  Use your rolling pin to lift up crust and lay over greased baking area.

Spoon out half of a 21 ounce can of Lucky Leaf® Apple Pie Filling into the center of the crust, leaving a 2-inch border.  Fold edges of pie crust over filling, pleating as necessary, leaving center of filling exposed.  Brush edges of crust with milk and sprinkle crust with brown sugar and cinnamon.

BAKE for 25 to 30 minutes or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden.  Cover loosely with foil the last 10 minutes of baking time to prevent over-browning.  Remove and cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes. The cookbook says 30 minutes, but I wanted to eat it warm.

WHILE THAT'S BAKING, GET OUT...

• 1/4 cup half-n-half
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon Maple sirup

In a one-cup food processor or with an electric mixer, beat cream, cheese, sugar and sirup until blended and smooth.

BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP! (that's the oven timer going off)

You See?  It didn't matter that my raw pie crust wasn't perfectly round.  Now for the moment of truth.  How does Lucky Leaf® Pie Fillings score?

To be very honest with myself and you, Lucky Leaf® Apple Pie Filling is surprisingly fresh tasting.  I was glad to feel the apple slices had a firm texture, as if I had baked with fresh apples. The apple glaze that adheres the whole dessert together was clean and had a naturally sweet flavor, not overly sweet at all.  I was worried at first bite that it would taste like a can or be masked with corn syrup icky-sweetness.  That wasn't the outcome at all! Shoo!  I could keep eating ;D  I did wish that I had added nutmeg or cinnamon to the filling, just because that's what I felt like tasting.  The filling tasted of fresh apples only.

The crust was flakey, just as I had expected. It held the filling in very well without being tough. Yeah!!!  Just as I was finishing the slice above, I realized I forgot the Maple Cream!  So for the sake of Simple Daily Recipes and all loyal readers, like yourself, I went back for another slice.  It was a small sacrifice, but it had to be done.

NOW WITH THE MAPLE CREAM...

This was my Sunday breakfast.  Tasted GREAT with fresh, hot coffee.  The Maple cream was good, but it did not take the dessert to a whole new level or anything.  For the calories, I'll skip it next time and just enjoy another slice.

Would I buy Lucky Leaf® Pie Filling in future? Yes, because they DO NOT use high-fructose corn syrup in their product.  The 8 ingredients on the can were real ingredients.  It has a fresh taste and it's a delicious time saving product.

I'm definitely baking this again with the other half of the can and pie crust.  It makes 4 to 5 servings, but that won't last long around my house.

Simple Banana Coconut Bars

Moist and cake-like, Simple Banana Coconut Bars are perfect when you want banana bread with a little more.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 cup pecan pieces
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, omit if using salted butter

Heat oven to 350ºF.  Grease 8x8x2-inch pan with cold butter.

Mix sugar, bananas, melted butter, and eggs in large bowl with spoon.  Stir in pecans and coconut.  Stir in the remaining dry ingredients all at once.

Spread batter in pan.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Carefully invert pan onto cake plate and allow it to cool upside down, until cake naturally falls out of pan onto plate.  If it doesn't fall out naturally, tap the bottom of the pan until it loosens.   Allow it to cool completely and quickly in the refrigerator before adding frosting.  Cooling in the refrigerator helps it to retain the cake's moisture.  It only takes 20 minutes or so.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon real Maple syrup
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar

Mix cream cheese and Maple syrup in a medium bowl.  Gradually stir in powdered sugar with a fork until smooth and spreadable.

Keep leftover bars refrigerated, if they're frosted with cream cheese frosting.

Texas Peach Pie

JUST LOOK at these golden sweet Texas peach slices.  They don't grow them like this in the grocery store.  You'll only find these sugary juicy wonders around the farmers' markets of East Texas from late-June to mid-August.  I couldn't help but make a Texas size pie when I brought them home from my own local farmers' market.  And instead of a pie plate, I pulled out the 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish and went to town.

I made the pie crust from scratch and it wasn't hard at all.  I don't know why 'they' make it sound so mysterious like it can only be made by the masters of baking.  Whatever.  I've watched the Barefoot Contessa and America's Test Kitchen make it enough, I just went for it.  It turned out just like a pie crust should.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Pie Crust

• 1 cup or 2 sticks COLD butter, cut into tablespoon slices
• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt, (if you use salted butter, then do not add this extra salt)
• 7 to 8 tablespoons ice cold water

In a food processor, pulse and cut butter into flour and salt until mixture makes small pea size crumbs.  With the processor on, add ice cold water through the top until all the flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl.

Gather pastry into a ball; shape into flattened round. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.  When you're ready to assemble the pie, then divide dough in half.  Roll out each half onto a lightly floured surface to the size of your baking dish.  Lay the pressed dough over the rolling pin to help pick up and move the dough to the buttered dish.

Texas Peach filling

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 to 8 cups fresh sliced peaches (about 7 to 10 peaches)
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons butter

HEAT OVEN 425ºF.

After slicing all those peaches, make sure there will be enough to fill the casserole dish before prepping the dish for baking.  You may need extra peaches or you may have too many, it's good to check before going further.

Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon and vanilla.  Stir in the measured peaches and lemon juice.

Prepare bottom layer of pastry and lay into bottom of the buttered 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish. Don't worry about it being pretty, no one will notice the bottom.

Pour peach mixture into pastry-lined dish. Dot with 3 tablespoons of butter.  Cover with top crust that has slits cut in it; seal and decorate to your fancy.

Seen here sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar and hearts smeared with softened butter.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.  Allow to cool so the peach filling has time to solidify, otherwise it will run out and fall apart as you try to move it to your plate.  Trust me on this one.

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I made this big casserole size pie thinking it would be the dessert for the weekend.  Well, after sharing about two-thirds of it with dear friends and neighbors, my own family DEVOURED the remaining portion in one day.  So much for the weekend.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

Close your eyes and have a bite.  Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies WILL satisfy those sweet chocolate cravings.  They're lighter in appearance because the recipe calls for white sugar instead of brown sugar, and the sour cream helps, too.  Are you worried that you may be eating sour cookies?  Don't be.  We ate the dough unbaked and baked and NO ONE knew about the sour cream, until I told them.

HERE'S ALL THERE'S TO IT

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups mini-chocolate chips.

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Beat sugar, sour cream, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix by hand.  Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes before removing.  Transfer to a wire rack for complete cooling.

All you need now is a glass of milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Simple Blackberry Cobbler

I apologize that there's not a photograph for this recipe.  You'll have to trust me that it makes a beautiful dessert and it's absolutely worth the time to bake it up.  I served this recipe in a cooking demonstration at our Main Street Farmers' Market and the crowd went ga-ga for it.  It helps to make sure the blackberries are sweet on their own without the need to add sugar.  If you happen to buy tart blackberries, wait a day, they'll sweeten up on their own.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

To make 6 servings

• 4 cups fresh blackberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

HEAT oven to 375ºF.
Grease 8-inch square pan.  Layer berries in pan and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice.  In a medium bowl, stir together egg, sugar and flour until it resembles a course meal.  Sprinkle over fruit.  Drizzle butter over the top.
BAKE 35 minutes, until lightly brown & bubbly.  Allow to cool 10 minutes then serve warm with whipped cream.

TEXAS SIZE BLACKBERRY COBBLER

To make 24 servings

• 16 cups fresh blackberries
• 4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 large egg
• 4 cup sugar
• 4 cup all purpose flour
• 3 sticks or 1 1/2 cups melted butter

HEAT oven to 375ºF.
Grease 12-inch by 17-inch half sheet pan.  Layer berries in pan and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice.  In a large bowl, stir together egg, sugar and flour until it resembles a course meal.  Sprinkle over fruit.  Drizzle butter over the top.
BAKE 35 minutes, until lightly brown & bubbly.  Allow to cool 10 minutes then serve warm with whipped cream.

Simple Zucchini Bars

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 small zucchini, shredded and drained (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches.  Mix brown sugar, butter , vanilla and egg in large bowl.  Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves.  Stir in zucchini and nuts.

Spread batter in pan.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely.  Frost with Clove-Spiced Frosting.  Cut 6 row b;y 4 rows.  Yields 24 bars.

Clove-Spiced Frosting

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 to 4 teaspoon milk

Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable.

Simple Pumpkin Yogurt, Breakfast or Dessert

Have you ever heard of pumpkin yogurt?  It's a first for me.  I'll tell ya, at first taste, my mind had to do quite a bit of undoing to all it associates with pumpkin and yogurt.  But the two are very good together, especially when they've had time to get it on after a long night in the frig.

Now, I didn't make this recipe up.  Kim invited me to a local cooking class put on by the Texas Ag Extension office.  This was one of the treats I tasted and thought, "Hmm, how could I make this better?"

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 2 cups nonfat French vanilla yogurt (I prefer Stonyfield Farm Organic, it's not overly sweet)
• 3/4 cup pumpkin from the can
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice

• crumbled granola bar for topping

Homemade Whipped Topping

• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

First, get out a medium bowl, mesh strainer, and a cheesecloth or tea towel. Line the strainer with the cloth and set on top of the bowl.  Place the yogurt in the cloth, cover and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

Place the thickened yogurt into a medium bowl and add the pumpkin, sugar and spice.  Stir well and allow the flavors to come together at least an hour or better, overnight.

Now, you can stop right here. Sprinkle the pumpkin yogurt with granola and have a lovely, healthy snack or holiday breakfast treat.

OR you can keep going and make a creamy dessert?

Using an electric mixer to whip up the heavy cream on a high speed until it starts to thicken, add in sugar and vanilla.  Continue to whip until soft peaks form.

For a light creamy touch, just add a dollop of whipped cream to the top of your yogurt.

For full on I don't care about the fat calories, line the bottom of your serving dish with whipped cream, layer on the pumpkin yogurt, top with a dollop of whip, then finish with sprinkling granola on top.

Simple Apple Squares

Simple Apple Squares are so moist and addictive, it's a good thing they're easy to make again and again.

This dessert is just the beginning of a looong list of dessert recipes that have fallen into my hands...
Mwah ha ha ha ha haaa (that's my sinister laugh).

My neighbor loaned me a stack of OOOOOLLLLLD recipe books loaded with recipes our grandmothers fretted over. I have compiled a list of really good AND simple desserts that we can all enjoy either now, or over the coming holidays.

Now like I told my email subscribers, I'm NOT playin' that low cal-low fat song & dance here. HOWEVER, I'm NOT interested in my butt getting any bigger either.  So, I chose recipes that are reasonable, simple in ingredients and fairly easy to bring together. If you want to go off and slim'em down, then GO FOR IT and share it with the rest of us how you did it. Please add your changes in the comment boxes provided, so others can follow suit. If you love the recipe how it is, then let others know that.

Ok, let's bake these Simple Apple Squares.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 3 large apples, peeled & diced (I had an assortment of red apples on hand.)
• 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

• 2 cups flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 all purpose flour)
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canola oil or natural applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees.

Prep the apples and pecans, set aside. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon and salt together. Make a well, pour in eggs, oil, and vanilla. STIR BY HAND. The batter becomes very thick. Fold in the apples and pecans until well mixed. Pour into a well greased pan. There's enough batter to fill one 9 x 13 inch pan.

Just so you know: I didn't have my 9x13 available so I filled one 8 x 8 inch pan and one 4 x 8 inch loaf pan. I imagined them to equal my 9x13 pan and made sure the batter was the same depth in both pans. It worked out just fine.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before removing from pan.

Divide up and serve, 1/2 for yourself, 1/2 for everyone else... teeheehee

Don't you wish this was a scratch and sniff food blog?

If you get tempted to eat these hot, I'll tell ya right now, it won't be the same as when you eat them cooled down. They become really moist after the first hour. Then, they are really, really moist after the third hour. You know how banana bread gets moist and yummy after day two? That's how this acts after the third hour. I'm not kidding!

Ok, go make a batch and report back here. I'll be waiting for you.

Awesome Fruit Salad

This AWESOME fruit salad is PERFECT on a hot day! It's really hard to stop eating it.

I threw this together to serve on the side of my experimental breakfast, whole wheat English muffins turned into French toast. (I'll tell you about them in the next post.)

There's just the right amount of sweet, juicy fruits and nutty pecans that keep you wanting another bite, then just one more bite, then one last bite, but maybe just another spoonful...

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 normal size can of chunk pineapple, drained
• 1 small can of mandarin oranges, drained
• 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, slightly thawed
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup pecan pieces
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup sweeten coconut flakes

Mix it all into a large bowl and it's ready to serve. After a couple of hours in the refrigerator, it tastes even better! The blueberries turn the pineapple purple, but it actually looks pretty cool. Like a funky tie-dyed salad. The pecans and coconut soak up the fruit juices and become tender and yummier! This is the addictive part of the salad.

I thought I made enough fruit salad to last us a couple of days. It lasted one; from breakfast to dinner's dessert.

Cinnamon Apple Bars

These cinnamon apple bars will go well with coffee, hot tea...I see baking them for the next ladies luncheon or for my diet minded friends. They're moist, cakey, and two is about all you want. They're not rich or overly sweet. They have a simple, cinnamon apple flavor that makes for a guiltless treat.

I came across this recipe when looking for something sweet to eat that didn't have too many calories and still tasted good. This is a pretty easy recipe. If you can bake brownies, you can make cinnamon apple bars.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark brown)
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup healthy oil
• 1/4 cup healthy egg substitute or 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped unpeeled apple

Heat oven to 350F degrees.

Mix brown sugar, applesauce, oil and egg substitute in large bowl.

Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, then finally the apple.

Spread batter in 8x8 inch pan, lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean; cool.

Cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.

Need time I make these, I think I'll increase the chopped apple to 1 cup. I really enjoyed the texture and natural sweetness the apples added to the cakey bars.

Sweet Potato Oat Bars

Ok children, today we're going to learn about birthing a new recipe. Oh I can here y'all already.

"But Miz Scarlett, I don't know nuttin'bout birthin' no recipes!!"
To tell you to truth, me neither! But it's not going to stop me from trying and trying and trying.

I had five small sweet potatoes and I only know one way to eat them - baked with marshmallows. I felt like eating a dessert involving oats and cinnamon. I really wanted the crust from my Creamy Lemon Oat Bars. So, I put the two recipes together and got a delicious hybrid (sorry, it's my horticulture background) of a sweet wholesome dessert.

It was good after it cooled, but it was WAY BETTER the next day! I highly recommend making this a day ahead.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Filling

• 2 average size sweet potatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Crunchy crust & crumble topping

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Peel and cut up sweet potatoes into 1 inch chunks. Place in medium saucepan, cover with water, add the salt. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Cook until their tender enough to pierce with a fork.

Meanwhile, prepare crust.
Heat oven to 375F degrees. Coat 8×8 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix crunchy crust ingredients in a food processor until crumbly. Press half of the crumbly mixture in pan; bake about 10 minutes or until set. Remove from oven, set aside. Do not turn off the oven.

Back to the sweet potatoes.
Drain off all water and move potatoes to the food processor. Add in brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg and blend until smooth. Spread potato mixture evenly onto baked crust. Sprinkle remaining crumbly mixture over the sweet potato mixture, press down gently. Bake about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool completely. Chill in refrigerator over night. Cut 4 rows by 4 rows.

We really liked it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Who wouldn't!?!

Sweet Moist Banana Bread

The best banana bread I've ever made EVER!

It's so moist & flavorful on the first day, it tastes like it was baked yesterday.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED...

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