Food Frenzy

Okay, so not everything is in the category of "wedding" these days. I got some great cookbooks for Christmas (Thanks Auntie!) and have been trying really hard to make use of them.

The most recent experiment was Apple Dumplings. I'm sure if you follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook you'll be sick of hearing about this stuff, but seriously I was pretty proud of them. I promise they won't be posted anywhere else after this. (because I have no more social networks that I can use to talk about them. ha!)

They have definitely inspired me to start a "Food Frenzy" entry. Consider this Food Frenzy: 1st Edition

Here's the recipe for the delish Apple Dumplings:

2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon grown cinnamon
1/4 cup butter/margarine
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/3-1/2 cup half-and-half
2 tablespoons sugar
6 small cooking apples (make sure they're super small! I had to cut my apples in half)
Granny Smith or Rome Beauty
1 tablespoon butter/margarine
It calls for 1 tablespoon of Honey, 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, and 2 tablespoons of rainsin... but I changed this up (instruction #4)

1. For sauce, in a med. saucepan combine the water, 1 1/4 cups sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add the 1/4 cup butter or margarine. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, for pastry, in a med. bowl combine the flour and salt (I also added cinnamon to this step to give dough a little more flavor). Cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the half-and-half over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon of the half-and-half at a time, until all of the dough is moistened. Form the dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into an 18x12-in rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut into 6-in squares.
3. In a small bowl (like tiny) stir together the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and the 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside.
4. Peel and core the apples. Place an apple on each pastry square *put honey in center of cored apple - I put about a tablespoon in each dumpling... If you like nuts & raisins combine all three ingredients and add them to each dumpling* Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture; dot with the 1 tablespoon of butter/margarine. Moisten edges of each pastry square with water; fold corners to center over apple. Pinch to seal seams. Place dumplings in a 13x9x2-in baking pan. Reheat sauce to boiling and pour over dumplings. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven about 1 hour or until apples are tender and pastry is golden.

- To serve, spoon sauce over dumplings.

Cheers!