by | October 1, 2010 · 7:42 am

Fall Craze: Apple Picking

Eating an apple off the vine is one of life’s simple pleasures. This past weekend, we took our son on his first apple picking excursion. He may not have the manual dexterity to pick an apple, but he loved exploring the look and feel of everything in the orchard.

There are a good number of places in the Milwaukee area to go apple picking, but Barthel Fruit Farm in Mequon tends to be our favorite. It is a short drive and is less “commercial” than a place like Apple Holler. Apple Holler only sells an apple picking package for $39.95, which includes all the kid activities and one bag of apples. At Barthel, you can choose between a small bag for $10 or a large bag for $17.

Some of the apple crops this year are in short demand due to freezing during blossom time. However, Barthel had an abundance of beautiful Cortland apples last weekend. Red Delicious were also available for picking, though not quite as “fruitful.” Barthel’s does harvest Honeycrisp apples, my absolute favorite, but they are only available to purchase, not to pick.

Lucky for us, Cortlands are a great baking apple. Other good baking choices include Golden Delicious, Ida Red, Jonathon and Paula Red. Apples are best stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, sprinkled with a little bit of water. They will store in the refrigerator for a few weeks to a month.

So with apples on the brain, I’ve been coming up with some fun apple concoctions. I wanted to share my Apple and Brie en Croute recipe with you!

Ingredients:

1 apple cored and chopped
2 TBSP honey
1/4 C walnuts
1 package of Brie
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg
2 TBSP water

Allow puff pastry to thaw to room temperature (approx. 1 hr). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry into a square. In a small bowl, mix together apples, honey and walnuts. Scoop mixture into middle of pastry. Put Brie (including rind) on top of the mixture. Fold each corner of the puff pastry over the Brie. Carefully flip the pastry over onto a baking sheet. In a small bowl, beat egg. Add water. Lightly brush on puff pastry. Cook in oven for 25 minutes (until golden brown). Allow to sit for 30 minutes before eating. Cut into slices and serve. This recipe makes a great fall appetizer.

Here are some other great HAP apple recipes to enjoy!

Goat Cheese, Apple and Pine Nut Pizza
Apples and Almond Butter
Ultimate Chicken Salad
Caramel Apple Pie Ice Cream
Apple Tart
Apple, Raspberry, Zucchini Pie

Happy Apple Picking!

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by | September 29, 2010 · 7:14 am

Campfire Birthday Party

campfire birthday partyMy sweet little girl turned 2 last week!  She has recently fallen in love with messy, gooey smores, so we decided to throw her a campfire birthday party.

campfire birthday invitationThe adorable red invitations were created by fellow HAP blogger, Stef and set the tone for the fun, outdoor party. The invitations can be ordered here in her Etsy shop, Morning Star Designs.

kids birthday party bug juice

Guests were served “bug Juice” in mini canteens adorned with name tags.

We snacked on all of Isla’s favorite foods!  Jagged cut wood signs painted with black paint were used as food tags.

owl birthday tshirt

The birthday girl wore an adorable personalized pink and red raglan tee created by Jamie at Sweet 3 leaf prints.

S'more cupcakesInstead of cake, we treated ourselves to smore cupcakes: devils food cake topped with marshmallow butter cream and topped with Hershey squares and mini graham crackers.

No campfire birthday party would be complete without a smore buffet!  My favorite combination?  Peanut butter cup smore on chocolate graham crackers with marshmallow fluff.

A red bandana banner created by Andrea at Where the Green Grass Grows hung above the food table.

S'more birthday party favorsAs party favors, guests were asked to take a “smore for later.”  The cellophane bags were tied with jute and a tag also created by Stef.

campfire party favorsAll the kids left with bandana knapsacks filled with treats and small toys.

happy trails bandana birthday favors

Happy birthday Miss Isla!

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by | September 27, 2010 · 7:43 am

{Inspired by} Quilted Details

My friend Colleen and I recently had the privilege of a personal tour of the American Quilts feature exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I’m not a quilter – with the exception of a stint in high school where my girlfriends and I made this huge community quilt and obsessively watched the movie How to Make an American Quilt.  However, seeing the gorgeous quilts at the exhibit made me wish that I could remember how!

Quilting and crochet can sometimes feel more granny than chic but with a good quilting machine and fall in full swing, I can’t get enough of the cozy vibe, intricate patterns and hand-sewn detailing.  So until I have the time to re-learn the art of quilting, I’m planning to just snap up a few items with this classic look.


Clockwise from top left: Frayed Edge Quilt, Crochet Embellishment Necklace, Gorjana Hudson Quilted Clutch, Faded Floral Quilt, Wool-blend Blazer, Silver Plated Cuff, International Polarquilt Jacket, Best Bud Wallet, Laelia Bedding, Anne Klein Beckon Flats, Melange French Terry Quilted Oversize Cardigan, Oversized Crotcheted Scarf, Hand Quilted Velvet Pillow


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by | September 24, 2010 · 7:39 am

Chocolate Pie

When my husband and I first started dating, we went to visit his grandparents. I was very nervous to meet them for the first time and soon found myself being pulled into the kitchen by his grandfather for some words of wisdom. I prepared myself for a long story about life and love and how to make it last. Instead, he kept it short and sweet. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “keep a guy, bake a pie.”

He truly believed that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  This quote is a running joke in my family, but I do think of Grandpa every time I bake a pie.

So, in honor of him, I will share with you one of my Mother-in-law’s favorite pie recipes. This chocolate pie is so smooth and rich. It is the perfect go-to recipe for chocolate lovers.

Chocolate Cream Pie

1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place sugar, flour, milk, and chopped up chocolate in 2 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until mixture begins to bubble. Continue stirring for 2 minutes.

Now you will need to temper the eggs before you add them to the hot mixture. First, crack the eggs into a small heatproof bowl. Begin rapidly beating the eggs. While you do this, slowly add about ¼ cup of the warm mixture into the eggs. Continue beating until combined. This will prevent the eggs from scrabbling right when they hit the warm chocolate mixture.

Add the tempered eggs to the warm chocolate mixture and cook for an additional 90 seconds, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat, and stir in butter or margarine and vanilla.

Pour the filling into prebaked pie shell, and chill until set. Top with whipped topping, and a little grated chocolate.

Happy Birthday Haute Apple Pie!

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by | September 22, 2010 · 8:25 am

Haute Pie: White Chocolate Raspberry Macadamia Nut

Awhile back, Food & Wine magazine stated, that “pie is the new cupcake.” While I love cupcakes, I couldn’t be more excited about this new exuberance for pie…for obvious reasons. For Haute Pie Week, I decided to make a pie inspired after my favorite cookie – white chocolate macadamia nut.

As a little side note, this is the second pie I made. My first pie was a bit of a fail. When it lay crumbled on a plate in front of my husband, he called it “deconstructed pie.” (And he says he doesn’t pay attention when I watch Top Chef).

The graham cracker and macadamia nut crust gives that cookie texture and the addition of raspberry added tartness to the sweet mousse filling.

Ingredients

6-8 graham crackers
3/4 C macadamia nuts
1/2 stick butter
1/4 C raspberry preserves
1 cup cold 2% milk
1 package (3.3 ounces) instant white chocolate pudding mix
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

For the crust:

Crush graham crackers and macadamia nuts in food processor. Melt butter in small dish in microwave and add to graham cracker crumbs. Press crumbs into pie dish, pushing it up against the sides. Layer raspberry preserves on top of crust, gently spreading with a rubber spatula. Place pie dish in refrigerator.

For the mousse:

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes until thick; set aside. In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cream. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat remaining cream until it begins to thicken. Gradually add sugar and extract; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in gelatin mixture. Fold in pudding mixture. Refrigerate until slightly firm, about 30 minutes.

Spread mousse on top of crust. Refrigerate for two hours.

What better way to celebrate a happy HAP birthday than with a delicious piece of haute pie.

Bon Appetite!

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by | September 20, 2010 · 9:36 am

Happy Birthday HAP & {Haute Pie Week} Strawberry, Balsamic & Black Pepper Pie

Last week was the first birthday of Haute Apple Pie and it’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year!

When we first started this little project we were worried that we wouldn’t have enough ideas to share. As it turns out, we’re just getting started. Over the past year we’ve stretched our creativity, made many new friends and recently begun turning our passion for event styling into a growing side business. A big thanks goes out to our families and friends for supporting our craft-mania, our husbands for patiently waiting while we stage and photograph our meals, and most of all, thanks to you, dear reader, for following along and chiming in.  Your comments make us giddy with happiness.

So in honor of our birthday, we thought it would only be appropriate to bring you a week of pies…”haute” pies, that is!   I’m kicking it off with a Strawberry, Balsamic & Black Pepper Pie – a classic combo of ingredients to snaz up an American favorite.
strawberry lattice pie with balsamic

Lattice Pie Crust
2C flour
1/2 C shortening
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar
1C water with ice cubes
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Separately, combine vinegar and ice water. Cut the shortening in grape-sized chunks into the dry mixture using a pastry cutter. Begin adding water to the dry mixture, 1-2 Tbsp at a time as you use the pastry cutter or your hands to work the shortening into the flour. Continue adding water until all the flour is worked in and dough holds together but is not sticky (you may not use all the water). If dough gets too sticky, dust in more flour. Divide the dough into 2 balls and place each ball between 2 sheets of floured waxed or parchment paper. Roll out each ball with a rolling pin until it is flat and large enough to cover a pie dish.

Lay one crust into your pie pan, pressing into the edges. Use your fingers to flute the edges of the crust. Trim the second ball into a long rectangle. Slice it into 8 long strips and set aside.

strawberries in colander

Strawberry, Balsamic & Black Pepper Filling
2 pints strawberries, quartered or halved
1 pint strawberries, pureed
3 Tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp water
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C corn starch
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 C organic heavy whipping cream (I like Organic Valley)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Wash and trim ends off of strawberries, then slice them into quarters or halves depending on their size. Place 2/3 of the berries onto the pie crust. Using a food processor, roughly puree the remaining 1/3. Meanwhile, in a small saute pan, whisk together sugar, corn starch, salt and pepper. Whisk in puree, water and vinegar and bring to a simmer over med-low heat. Continue whisking frequently until mixture is reduced by about 1/3 and beginning to thicken. Spoon over the berries in the pie crust.

Gently place half of your dough strips in horizontally across the top of the berry mixture, spacing them evenly apart. Next, weave the remaining dough strips vertically, alternating over and under the horizontal pieces to create a lattice effect. You’ll need to lift up the horizontal pieces as you work. Pinch the edges of each strip into the fluting with your thumbs. Brush the lattice and crust edges with the beaten egg.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until crust is golden. In a small bowl, combine cream (get the organic – it whips like a dream!), 2 tsp sugar and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer until fluffy peaks form.

IMPORTANT: Let cool for 3-4 hours before serving.  Strawberry pie is super juicy and without proper cooling, your filling will ooze out (unfortunately, as seen below).  The pie will still taste delicious but will not be the sliced presentation masterpiece you envisioned. Fortunately, your pet probably isn’t voting on presentation and will still enjoy the crumbles at the bottom of the dish.

homemade strawberry pie recipeyellow labrador eating

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by | September 17, 2010 · 8:21 am

Come Sail Away: Nautical Rehearsal Dinner

The HAP girls were recently hired to deck out the Milwaukee Boat Line’s Voyageur for a nautically themed rehearsal dinner. Inspired by vintage sailboats, we used a red and blue theme, incorporating ticking fabric, wood, rope and a few other nautical touches.

Using a sponge brush and navy paint, we stenciled the bride and grooms names to a lifesaver to adorn the favor table. Guests were treated to salt water taffy wrapped in blue and red ticking fabric with a Bon Voyage tag, that nested in rustic blue and red wood crates.

Each centerpiece was wrapped in nautical rope and held Daisies and Sprengeri. A painted wooden anchor rested against each vase on top of a small blue ticking fabric placemat.

Guests were mailed a Come Sail Away invitation, mailed in a blue envelope, along with a response card. The invitation is available in my Etsy shop, Morning Star Designs.

Even the babies dressed up for the event! And no, they are not twins, they are cousins – 9 days apart!

Congratulations to Jeff and Kate – thank you for allowing Haute Apple Pie help make your weekend extra special!

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by | September 15, 2010 · 8:24 am

Pound Cake with Nutella

I love recipes that turn an ordinary treat into something surprising and new.  That is how I feel about Pound Cake with Nutella.  Pound cake alone is a sweet treat, but can be a little plain.  Add a few swirls of the delicious chocolate and hazelnut spread and you have a new take on an old classic.

Pound Cake with Nutella

1 cup butter at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1  cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a loaf pan and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating with each egg you add.  Finally, add the vanilla and salt.

Slowly add the flour and mix on low until just combined.  Be careful not to over mix.

Warm the nutella in the microwave until slightly warm.  This allows it to pour more easily over the pound cake.

Now you are going to layer the batter and the nutella.  First pour 1/3 of the batter into your pan.  Evenly pour 1/2 of the nutella over the batter.  Cover with another 1/3 of the batter and pour remaining nutella on top.  Finally cover with remaining batter.

Lightly swirl nutella with a knife.  Be careful not to over mix.

Bake about one hour or until firm on top.  let cool for about 10 or 15 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack.

This Pound Cake is great served warm or cold.

Enjoy!

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by | September 13, 2010 · 8:27 am

Preserving & Canning 101

Canning is hot right now. Maybe it’s just that I’ve paid more attention to it after taking several canning classes this summer but regardless, I would say it’s “trending”…and for good reason.  What’s not to like about tasty jams or pickled goodies that let you enjoy summer all year round?  And while grocery stores are full of canned goods, I think there’s something smart and charming about preserving your own garden (or farmer’s market) goodies to keep or to giveaway.

“Preserving” covers canning, freezing and drying…so you don’t have to can to preserve your goods. Freezing and drying are less complicated than canning but they also limit your options. If canning is something you’re interested in, I would highly recommend finding a local class or a good book.  To whet your appetite, I conned my local instructor, Annie Wegner Lefort, into sharing her top preservation tips. As a Master Food Preserver, Annie really knows her stuff and has tons of great locally-sourced and preservable recipes on her own blog:

Annie’s Top Ten Food Preservation Tips (in no particular order):

1. Use a tested recipe and stick to it: pH levels are particularly important with hot water bath canning. Use a tested recipe to guarantee a safe, shelf-stable product.
2. Use Quality Produce: Garbage in = garbage out. Don’t use canning as a last resort to save something that’s overripe. Don’t want to lose it? Try freezing instead.
3. Preserve what you can consume in a year: Though home-canned items can be perfectly good 18 months or even two to three years after canning, they’re best in the first 12 months. When people relied on preservation instead of grocery stores, they preserved what they could reasonably eat before the next harvest.
4. Keep everything at a constant warm/hot temperature when processing: The biggest culprit of broken jars in the canner is that they were too cool going into the hot water bath. Keep your jars, food product, and water in the canner at a similar warm or hot temperature as you work.
how to make homemade jam
5. Vent properly when canning: Especially if you have a gas stovetop, be sure to open windows and vent when the cans are processing. It’s tempting to crank the A/C when canning, but if your flame happens to go out during processing (because of water splashing out of the kettle), this can eventually cause a buildup of noxious gas.
canning jam
6. Preserve the abundance of the season: When fruits and vegetables are plentiful, they should be most affordable. That’s the time to buy by the bushel. If you put in the work ahead of time you’ll have your larder stocked with local foods all winter.
7. Plan ahead for gift-giving: People love homemade gifts and almost nothing gets more oohs and aahs than the gift of preserves. They make instant host gifts or can be bundled with a favorite recipe and baked goods for a special gift basket.
8. Stock up on other ingredients: Keep an eye on store fliers for sales on vinegar, spices, sugar, etc. as well as canning supplies. Not only will you save money, but you’ll have everything you need on hand when the preserving bug hits.
9. Before you try a new recipe, think about how you’ll use it: I love to try new preserves, but if I have no immediate use for them they might sit in my pantry for years. Think about turning pickled beets into instant borscht or adding salsa to chili.
10. “Canners do it in groups”: Many hands make lighter work and this couldn’t be more true with preserving. It can be a lot of work (though well worth it), so gather some friends to pick, pare, and preserve (and sip a little wine!). Or can on your own, but consider which friends make the best salsa, pickles, etc. then swap the final products.

Canning Party

My friends, Colleen and Lizzy, and I took that last point to heart and recently held a mini canning party to make a double batch of fruit jams.  I love fruit jams because they’re great on toast, in plain yogurt, over ice cream and more. I dressed up the results with labels, pretty ribbon and rustic fabric scraps so that they’re giveaway ready.

canned jam as gifts

Next up, I planning on tackling Annie’s Bruschetta in a Jar recipe (see pg 17 of the Sept virtual issue) and some apple and pumpkin butters for fall!

More Preserving Resources:
So Easy to Preserve – we used their Blueberry Spice jam recipe
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
US Dept of Agriculture Complete Guide to Home Canning & Preserving
Canning & Preserving with Ashley English (who also has a great blog)
Milwaukee Urban Ecology Center Preservation Courses

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by | September 10, 2010 · 7:35 am

Inspired by: Autumn

When I walked into Starbuck’s last week and saw the Pumpkin Spice Latte, I knew fall was upon us. I am a giddy school girl in back to school clothes this time of the year. From chili to boots to pumpkins, I love it all. So I thought I would share some of this year’s fall inspirations with you!

Left to right and top to bottom: Sweet Leaves Orange Harvest Fabric Branches; Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte; Naturally Saavy Storage; Carved White Pumpkin; Faux Bittersweet Wreath; Van Gogh Sunflowers 1888; Mini Halloween Caramel Apples; Autumn Party Tags; Knit Military Jacket

What inspires you this fall?

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