Angie's Favorite Substantial Snacks

- Desserts -

Angiemama's Apple Pie:

I went to Ohio University for one Quarter of my college career. When I was there, I needed to find a job or some way of earning some dough (pun not intended, I swear!) So I decided to capitalize on what I thought were my expert pie crafting skills. I had a plan: to purchase a slot at the Athens Farmers Market, and 3 times a week to peddle my pies. The only problem was, I had no car, and no way to carry multiple pies down to the market. I asked Brek to help me craft a "tart cart" that I could pull behind my bicycle. This idea never came into fruition (I swear I didn't intend that one either!) So, I decided that I could still be a famous pie maker, even if just in the circle of my friends and family. One of my favorite pastimes is to beg someone to time me, and to try to beat my previous pie making record. I am still the mama of the 10-minute apple pie. (Clean up time not included.)

 

Crust: 2 cups flour (half can be whole wheat)
3/4 cup vegetable shortening or butter
1 tsp salt (or a pinch more)
5 TBSP cold water
To make the crust: mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the butter or shortening with a fork. Gradually add the cold water and form a ball of dough using your hands. (Once you have a good lump of dough, don't knead or handle it anymore- overdoing it will make the dough tough.) Divide the lump in 2 to make to 2 dough balls. Roll them out with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Layer one crust on the bottom of a pie pan. Fold the other in half twice and cut slots in for venting. Unfold and set aside.
Filling: 6-8 Granny Smith Apples, peeled (or not, if you like skins) cored and sliced Gradually add cinnamon sugar to the apples, making sure to stop when all the apples are coated. Place the apples inside the bottom crust. If you like, add a few small pats of butter to make the pie more flavorful (and fattening!) Lay the top crust over the apples and pinch the edges of the top and bottom pie crusts together. If you like, you can brush the top of the pie with a little milk or soy milk to brown it, and dust it with a bit of sugar.
Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Let cool and enjoy with some ice cream (mmmm- vanilla bean specks!!!) or soy milk.

 

Brownies:

My friend Brendan and I used to go to this little café in Oxford called "Kona" to "get some writing done." By the time we ordered and consumed our coffee, artichoke dip, and Kona brownies, we were too jazzed up on caffeine and wrapped up in conversation to write. But one of these brownies is a poem in itself. I tried to make up the recipe the best that I could.

 

Alright, folks, I don't have the recipe handy for the best brownies in the whole wide world. But you could easily find it on the inside of a Bakers Chocolate box. (Found in most baking aisles of the supermarket.) If you want to really do it up right, make your own whipped cream and add a bit of Bailey's Irish Cream and some sugar to the whipped cream. Dust the whole treat with some cinnamon. Or serve these brownies with vanilla bean ice cream and fresh sliced strawberries and a teensy bit of chocolate syrup. Mmmmm.

 

Banana Bread Dessert:

There is a little restaurant in Atlanta called the Roman Lily Cafe that served us this marvelous banana bread invention. We have merely tried to mimic the recipe, but if you ever get a chance to go and try the real thing, you should. In the meantime, this recipe comes pretty close. We got so excited about this little dessert that we wanted to share it with Brek's parents, so we sent the recipe and a loaf of banana bread to Brek's dad in the mail for his birthday. I am not sure how banana bread does in a UPS box, but I am sure it's best to bake your own and make this dessert with the freshest, moistest loaf you have, so it doesn't taste dry. It's worth the effort of baking a loaf, I swear!!!

 

You need: Sliced Banana Bread (see recipe in "Breads" section)
Butter or olive oil
Bananas Honey or sugar
Vanilla bean ice cream

Slice bananas and let them simmer in a bit of butter or olive oil. Add honey or sugar. Butter both sides of sliced Banana Bread and heat on a skillet. (Be sure to turn so both sides get warm.) Top the bread with the banana mixture and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Tasty!!