APPLE PANCAKES

These are a quick, easy and delicious breakfast on the go or on a weekend.  I grew up eating these as a treat and my children grew up with them and now I make them for my grandchildren.  I love them to this day and I enjoy the excitement on the children's faces when I make them.   You can also freeze these and pop them in the toaster or microwave for a quick weekday breakfast.  

Ingredients:

1 ½ C all-purpose flour

3 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1 ¼ C. milk

1 egg

3 Tbsp. butter (melted)

1 large apple peeled , cored and either thinly sliced.  (I used Granny Smith)

1/8 tsp. of cinnamon mixed with 1 Tbsp. sugar  (optional – more or less to taste)

Instructions:

1.        In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt & sugar.  Make a well in the center & pour in the milk, egg and melted butter.  Mix until smooth.

2.       Mix the sliced apple with the cinnamon & sugar mix, stir until apple is well coated. 

3.       Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet, to medium high heat (for electric griddles that would be about 375°).  Pour about 1/8 to ¼ C of batter (to make a cookie sized pancake) to the hot griddle and add a small amount of the apple/cinnamon mix to the top of the pancake then pour a Tbsp. of batter over the apples.  Cook until batter looks dry along the edges, gently lifting to check that bottom is golden brown and flip.  Cook the other side until brown and serve.  

I make them small enough to hold in your hand to eat like a cookie. 

**Serving options:  1) I have put them in a baggie with granulated sugar in it and shake them.  2)  Sprinkle some powdered sugar over them.  3) Put them on a plate and serve with butter and maple syrup.  

Bacon and Hasbrown Casserole

This dish is a winner for Sunday brunch...just add eggs! I actually made it as a side dish with fried catfish and it was perfect! Just a side note...any leftovers can be fried to make delicious potato pancakes too!

Ingredients 

1 bag (14 oz) frozen shredded hash browns, thawed 
1/2 c. diced yellow onion

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pint sour cream

4 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 package bacon (12 oz), diced

1 c. Frenches Fried Onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Spray 11 x 14 inch casserole or baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Cook the bacon until crispy and reserve 1/3 of the cooked bacon.
4. In large bowl, combine all ingredients, reserving 1/3 of your bacon and cheese, and stir together. 
5. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
6. In a small bowl, combine the reserved bacon and cheese and add the fried onion. Spread evenly over the top of the mixture in your casserole dish.
7. Bake for 45 minutes until top is golden brown and potatoes are done.

NOTE: Although I say to Salt and Pepper to taste, I will caution you that this dish can get salty with the bacon in it. Personally, I add VERY little salt and a fair amount of pepper when I make it. 

Easy Blackberry Cream or Cherry Cream Pie

I love blackberry pie, it’s one of my favorites and my sisters always make one for our family reunions and I always have to fight someone for the last piece!  Lol  Blackberry pie is really one of the easiest fruit pies to make because there is no stove top cooking, you just mix up everything in a bowl and fill the crust, put on the top crust and bake.  But I came up with an idea of making blackberry cream pie and for this one I had to use canned pie filling – I am working out the kinks of making my own filling with this recipe so I might have a follow up recipe soon but why wait to enjoy something so good?   J

FILLING

INGREDIENTS

1 can of blackberry or cherry pie filling, you can use whatever flavor you want but these are my favorites.

1 large size box of vanilla pudding – cook and serve – not instant.

  NOTE:  If large box of pudding is too much for your size pie just pour in about ¾ of it or until the crust is filled about ½ way.

PIE CRUST   (or you can use premade crust)

INGREDIENTS

·         1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1/4 teaspoon fine salt

·         1 teaspoon granulated sugar

·         8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces

·         4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and stir briefly until the mixture is aerated. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it’s in pea-size pieces that are slightly yellow in color, about 4 to 5 minutes.

2.     Drizzle in 4 tablespoons of the ice water and mix just until the dough comes together. (Add the last tablespoon of ice water if necessary, but don’t overwork the dough or it’ll become tough.)

3.       Shape the dough into a flat disk, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4.       Roll out the dough so that it will fit a 9 inch pan with about a ½  to 1 inch overlay.  Fold in half and lay in pie plate and unfold.   Fold edges under and crimp or style the way you want.  Take a fork and make a few holes across the bottom and sides of crust.  Bake at 375 until golden brown,  if the dough bubbles up a bit take a wooden spoon and gently press it down.

If using a store bought crust, or making your own bake them according to instructions above or according to the instructions of the store bought crust.   Let the crust cool.

Once both the crust has cooled (pudding can be warm)  pour the pudding into the crust and cover it with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator to finish cooling.   Then remove plastic and pour or spoon the can of pie filling over the top of the pudding, spread evenly.

Toppings:  You can top this with either meringue or whipped cream – it’s really good either way but if you want to keep it simple and easy – I recommend using whipped cream.  J    Put in refrigerator until ready to serve and keep any leftovers in the refrigerator.