Friday, August 15, 2014

Casino Themed Rice Crispies Treats

Last year my family and I hosted a Casino theme birthday party for my grandpa. It included a lot of food and desserts. For the next couple blogs, I will be posting the different type of desserts we created. If you're thinking about hosting a casino themed party let us help you come up with the best treats for your guests. The first thing we're going to show you are these deck of cards inspired rice crispies treats:
 
What you'll need:
Rice Crispies Treats
White Candy Melts
 Red and Black Decorating Gel
Lollipop Sticks
Treat Bags
 
Directions:
First, take a couple of the white candy melts and place them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until they are melted. Once they have melted, dip one side of the rice crispies treats into the chocolate. Once that side is covered in white, set it aside and do this to the rest of the treats until you have finished all of them. You can place them in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens. When the chocolate is hard you can go ahead and decorate them with the gel pen. Finally, you can add the lollipop stick onto the rice crispies, and put them in little treat bags and you're finished.
 
These treats are perfect for your guests to take home if they don't want to eat them at that moment.
 
End Result:
 
 
 


Saturday, August 9, 2014

Dutch Apple Pie


Dutch apple pie is by far my favorite pie. Many people will argue that pumpkin pie is better, but I'm not much of a pumpkin pie lover. Most of the time I just buy the frozen ones from the grocery store and pop it into the oven for a couple minutes, but nothing beats an apple pie made from scratch. When I make apple pie from scratch it's usually a 2 day process because I like the make the crust the day before. Hope you like this recipe as much as I do. Enjoy.

Pie Crust Recipe:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Butter
1/4 tsp. Salt
4 TBSP. Cold Water

Directions:
In a bowl I added the flour, butter, and salt and mixed them together. When it was mixed into little chunks I added the water. When adding the water make sure to add it one tablespoon at a time because you don't want it to get too watery. Once it was all mixed together I put it in a ziploc bag and left it in the refrigerator overnight. You can also just leave it in the refrigerator for an hour and then use it. After it has been in the refrigerator and you are ready to roll it out, take a 9 inch pie pan and cover it with the dough. it doesn't have to be perfect because no one will be able to see it, but make sure the pan is well covered.

Topping:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Quick Oats
1 tsp. Cinnamon
6 TBSP. Melted Butter

Directions:
Take a small bowl and add the flour, packed brown sugar, quick oats, and cinnamon and mix together. Then, take the melted butter and add it to the bowl. Make sure when you add the melted butter to the bowl that its not too hot. Once everything is mixed together set it aside.

Filling:
4 Apples (I used Granny Smith apples)
3 TBSP. Lemon Juice
6 TBSP. Butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
3 TBSP. Flour
1 TBSP. Cornstarch
1 TBSP Water
1 tsp. Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg
 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Peel, core and cut apples into thin slices, then place them in a bowl and sprinkle them with lemon juice to prevent them from getting brown, and set them aside.
Take a pot and over medium heat place the butter and let it melt. Once it is completely melted go ahead and add the white sugar, brown sugar, and mix. Then, add the flour and cornstarch and mix. The filling may be looking a little thick so add the water to thin it out and mix. Then add the rest of the ingredients such as the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract and mix. Remove from heat. Take the apples and add them to the pot. Mix well. Be careful when mixing the apples because you don't want to break them. Once everything is coated you can go ahead and add the filling to the pie pan. Add the topping and it's ready to go in the oven. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet in case some of the filling spills.
Bake the pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake it for an additional 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Note: if the edges are getting dark but the middle isn't fully baked place some aluminum foil on the edges to prevent from burning.

End result: