Oscars Party: "Django Unchained" Inspired Mini Mississippi Mud Pies with Bourbon Whipped Cream

"Django. The D is Silent."

Leonardo Di Caprio's portrayal of the Mississippi plantation owner Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino's Oscars nominated film Django Unchained is repulsive mixed in with a bit of charisma, violent mixed in with southern politeness, and outright brilliant. I know I would be too scared to serve him anything, but being from Mississippi I hope he would appreciate these mini mud pies. They are great for serving at parties, because they are individually portioned. You can just keep them in the fridge, and serve them whenever a guest wants dessert.

Valentine's Day Sweets: Brown Sugar, Pecan & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm very spoiled when it comes to food. I eat only the tops of my muffins. The crusts of my bread. And the gooey center of my cookies. I was trying to figure out a way to maximize the amount of gooeyness I get from cookies, and I finally achieved it by baking them in this heart pan with deep cups. I have a sneaky feeling they will work well with mini muffin pans too.

Ending the year on a sweet note

I read a quote the other day by the author Judith Viorst, that said: "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands-and then eat just one of the pieces". The truffles and orangettes I'm about to present to you require no manual labor to dive into as they are already individually portioned. However, they require a great deal of restraint to not eat the whole batch. I'm a firm believer in always ending things on a sweet note: a bad day, an amazing meal, a difficult task, a rainy afternoon, a long run, and of course the last hours of the year.

 

A Day in Ina's Shoes- Pecan Bars & PBJ Bars

 

I have a slight obsession with Ina Garten. This woman has impeccable taste. She is the hostess with the mostest. She manages to be both elegant but understated at the same time. Her kitchen has everything a cook could ask for but is not pretentious. Her entertaining style is flawless but not showy. Her food is always classic comfort food that is elevated to the next level.  As a cook, and a woman, it’s hard to watch her show without envying her. After following her show for years, I think I have her day down to a tee now (at least the day I picture her having).

How Ya Like Dem Apples? I Like Dem Baked.

For the past few years, I have been reminiscing about this apple cake I remember my mom used to make when I was a kid. There is only one problem, my mom doesn’t remember it.

I remember being excited about coming home after school to have this cake. I remember the exact place I would find it in the kitchen. I even remember the glass cake dome it would sit in. But I don’t remember what it exactly looked like. It was a cake, it had apples in it, and it was delicious.

My mother claims it was an apple tart, as my mom is famous among friends for her apple tart. But no, I insist it was a cake. She asks me if the apples were in it, or on top of it…I don’t remember. She asks me, was it a Bundt cake or a loaf? I don’t remember.

So last time she came to visit me, I made her dig in to her recipe book (calling it a “book” is generous, more like a “pile”). Her recipes are covered in pencil scribbles with titles like, "Dessert I got from a friend," and, “Strawberry thing I made at a dinner party once". She found an apple cake recipe, brought it with her, made it, and even though it was delicious, it wasn’t the cake I remembered.

I assumed her apple cake recipe was lost until few weeks ago, when two things happened. First, I stumbled upon Dorie Greenspan’s apple cake recipe. Even though the picture wasn't that clear, it immediately reminded me of my mom’s cake. If the recipe belonged to Dorie Greenspan, I mean, how could it be bad? Second, I got the latest delivery of my farm share. More about this in another post, but here’s the gist: every week I pick-up fresh and organic veggies and fruit locally, all sourced from a nearby farm. And recently I’ve been getting a lot of apples. Too many apples.
 

So with Dorie’s recipe and a surplus of apples, I made this cake, and the second I tasted it, I remembered the feeling I craved. It was the moistness that I had been reminiscing about. Not only were the apples so moist they melted in your mouth, but the cake was, too. So moist that I hardly covered it with plastic wrap, like Dorie suggested, and it was just as moist three days later.

 

After devouring the cake, I realized I still had like five pound of apples left! I have been itching to try out a recipe from the new pie book I bought at my corner cookbook store (along with a cute pie chicken I immediately bought when I saw one at the cover). I walked in to browse cookbooks on different cuisines, and when the person at the cash register said "I guess you don’t have a gluten allergy!" I realized I had bought three cookbooks: one about pies, one about pizzas, and one about bread making.

The apple pie turned out delicious. The sweetness of the apples was balanced out by the cheddar on the crust. And I mean crust, not that soggy bite you get at most apple pies, a real crust that stands up to the apples. And the dough was so easy to make! I have been put out by pie dough before, since I don’t have a big food processor to make one in. But this recipe comes together by just using your fingers. And you are allowed to leave big chunks of butter in the dough, the author actually suggests not to break them up too much to get that flaky crust (phew less work!).

After the pie, I thought I was done baking with apples for good, until I received, what do you know, more apples in my farm share! I didn’t want another pie or anything resembling it. Every recipe I browsed seemed too similar--tarts and strudels, etc.--until I saw a recipe for apple brownies in the October issue of Martha Stewart magazine.

 

They are fudgy like chocolate brownies, the brown sugar caramelizes on the apples. You can warm them up, and it turns into almost like a pudding, and it’s yummy with a scoop of ice cream and sprinkled with extra cinnamon. Or you can eat them cold, running out of the door as breakfast, replacing boring old granola bars.

 

So there you go, just when you thought you were finally done with apples, I leave you with three more recipes to try. Enjoy!

Apple Cake by Dorie Greenspan-Click for Recipe

Apple Pie from "How to Build a Better Pie" by Millicent Souris. Cheddar Cheese Pie Crust Recipe here with step-by-step picture instructions on how to make it, Apple Pie Recipe here

Apple Brownies by Martha Stewart- Click for Recipe