Place stick of butter in baking dish in cold oven. Preheat oven with pan in it to 350 degrees. (Sometimes I will make several of these at a time to freeze or share with friends. If so, I use these pans with matching lids.)
Butter is melted and ready for batter!
While the oven is preheating, I will heat in a saucepan over medium heat, the sliced peaches and 1 cup of sugar until the sugar is desolved.
Yummy peaches!
Whisk together 3/4 cups of the sugar, all of the flour, salt, baking powder and milk and pour over butter in heated baking dish.
Batter
Top with peaches and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Yummy!
You can do this cobbler with other fruits as well, or even with canned fruit. If using canned fruit, reduce sugar to 1/2 cup.
These can be frozen after baking and cooling completely. After I freeze them, I will thaw overnight in the fridge and then bake on 300 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until warm just before serving.
My sweet hubby loves all things lemon! I whipped these cookies up last week and he and the kiddos went nuts over them! They’re delicious with or without the lemon frosting!
Delicious!
For the Cookies:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick of salted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon essential oil (I dipped a toothpick in the oil and swirled into batter and that was enough) or you can use 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or cookie paper.
In stand mixer (I use one like this), beat softened butter and cream cheese for about a minute or until well incorporated and creamy.
Add sugar and continue mixing until it gets fluffy. Usually after 2-3 minutes.
Add in egg and lemon zest.
Stir baking powder and flour together and slowly add to mixer.
Add lemon juice.
Dip a toothpick into lemon essential oil and swirl into batter, or if you prefer, use 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract.
Mix until well blended.
Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheets, leaving plenty of room between cookies.
Spray a measuring cup with cooking spray and dip into sugar, as shown, and gently press cookies to flatten the tops.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Cool cookies on wire racks.
While cookies are cooling, mix together with a whisk or fork the powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Drizzle over cooled cookies.
This is a light and cold dessert that is perfect for those hot summer days! Whip this up ahead of time for summer parties, weekend dinners, or just because! You can make this pie in the graham cracker crust described below, or you can use my Mamaw’s Pie Crust recipe here. Both are perfect and I have made this both ways, depending on my mood!
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 sleeve graham crackers
1 stick of butter, melted
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
For the filling:
1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
1 small package strawberry gelatin
1 small package vanilla pudding and pie filling
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 cups water
8 ounces whipped topping
Instructions:
For the crust, combine all dry ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Add in melted butter and pulse until combined.
Dump into pie plate and use hands or a greased measuring cup to press into the bottom and up the sides of a glass pie plate. (Affiliate link: if you purchase items from these links, I will receive a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you! Thank you for supporting my blog!)
Place in refrigerator to cool while prepping the pie filling.
Slice fresh strawberries and line graham cracker crust sides and bottom as shown.
Yum!
Place crust with berries back in refrigerator.
In medium sauce pan, whisk together gelatin, pudding, lemon juice and water until it begins to thicken.
Pie filling mixture
Set aside and allow filling mixture to totally cool.
Pour mixture over berries and refrigerate until the filling begins to set up.
Cover in cool whip and garnish with additional fresh berries or however you choose!
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13×9 glass baking pan. (This is the one I have.)
Slice strawberries, sprinkle with sugar and refrigerate.
Combine cake mix, gelatin, oil, water and eggs until well mixed and pour into greased pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Strawberry cake is baking!
While cake is baking, prepare the lemonade cream cheese filling by beating cream cheese in a bowl alone for 2-3 minutes or until creamy, then add the lemonade concentrate until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk and lemon pudding until fully incorporated, and then add pudding mixture into cream cheese mixture.
Lemonade Cream Cheese filling!
Scrape a handful of the cream cheese lemonade mix into a ziplock bag, and cut a small hole in the corner in order to pipe into the cake.
When the cake is done, remove from oven and immediately poke holes with a wooden spoon.
Holes have been poked!
Once the cake has fully cooled, use the ziplock filled with cream filling and fill each hole as shown.
Filling the holes!
Spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over top of the cake and spread. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Top cream cheese layer with sliced strawberries.
Spread cool whip over the top of the strawberry layer. If desired, use strawberry slices, lemon slices, or garnishes of your choosing.
With the onset of cooler temperatures, rainy and cloudy days, and hints of fall in the air, I have been craving all things fall and all the nostalgia that comes with it!
One of my favorite things to do on cool mornings is enjoy a hot cup of coffee and a piece of my Mamaw’s Fresh Apple Cake. It’s warm and filling and oh, so delicious!
This recipe is a favorite of many of my family members and I get lots of requests for it this time of year!
It’s a very simple recipe and very easy to make, but will impress folks every time.
I start by peeling and dicing my apples into small bits like this. (And saving the peels, cores and egg shells for my chickens!)
Diced apples for our cake, peels and cores for the chickens to enjoy!
In my stand mixer I use the whisk attachment to mix together the oil and sugar, and then add beaten eggs.
I mix my dry ingredients in my Mamaw’s sifter.
I love using my Mamaw’s tools & utensils!
I then switch attachments on my mixer and fold in the dry ingredients. I do this because this makes a very thick batter, and the whisk attachment won’t mix it well and it will just get clogged up.
Getting ready to fold in the apples!
Slowly fold in the apples and nuts.
I use a spatula to scoop somewhat evenly into greased bunt pan because this makes a very dense, thick batter. It won’t be perfect, but as it bakes it will even out!
Ready to bake!
Now it’s time to bake! In my oven it takes just under an hour. I would start checking this at about 45 minutes just to make sure it doesn’t over cook and dry out.
Yum!
Let cool and dump onto a plate or cake dish.
Enjoy!
Fresh Apple Cake:
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups diced apples
1 cup of nuts (optional, I use walnuts)
My Mamaw’s Recipe
What is your favorite fall treat? Comment below and let me know!
(I’m including a link to the KitchenAid Mixer I use. This one is on Amazon and is an affiliate link. If you purchase, I will earn a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you!)
Here in Arkansas, the temperature is hovering steady around a million degrees…ok, fine, it’s around 100 degrees but it feels like a million with this humidity!
The electric bill will cost a small fortune because it’s going non-stop in order to keep us comfortable because we dare not go outside unless life depends on it! This has me wishing for and anticipating all things fall!
Today I bought some “Pumpkin Farm” wax melts at the grocery store and I’m already planning my fall decor and my Razorback football Saturday menus. This has me thinking about delicious desserts that I love to make for our family when we have company over for football games.
One of the favorite desserts I make and is almost always requested by my brother is homemade apple pie! I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I can’t. It’s been handed down for several generations in our family and was taught to me by my great grandmother.
She was the middle child in her family, so at the age of 7 she was responsible for cooking and cleaning and babysitting her younger siblings while her parents and older three siblings worked their farm.
When Mamaw taught me to cook, I was around 8 years old. She had about 75 years of cooking under her belt at that time, so I think she’s the best teacher I could’ve had! I spent years learning to make this apple pie, and that’s no joke! It’s because my Mamaw never measured anything! She “eyeballed” it all and would tell me things like “use about an egg sized scoop of shortening”. What’s an 8 year old modern day kid knows about that?!
So fast forward many years and many failed pies later, I finally mastered the art and got Mamaw’s thumbs up approval when I was about 18 years old. Only a decade of learning, so not too bad, huh?!
During this process I wrote down actual measurements and adjusted after each pie until she finally told me the final product was right, so I will share the recipe with you!
Before I start the process of pie making, I always prepare my work surface and lay out all of my ingredients so the process flows more smoothly and I make as little mess as possible with my messy hands! And I’m quite a messy cook anyway, if I’m being honest!
I lay out my silicone mat, my Mamaw’s wooden rolling pin, all of my crust ingredients, and most importantly, a cup of ice water. Not cold water, actual ice water! This is a must for delicious flaky crust!
One of the keys to the perfect pie crust is handling it as little as possible, and that’s why I love using a silicone mat to roll my pie crust on. It helps peel and fold it without as many tears when I go to move it into the pie plate, which prevents me from having to overwork the dough. It also requires less flouring than a countertop so I don’t dry my crust too much.
If you do take multiple attempts to perfect this process, don’t stress it. Your dough won’t be as flaky and may be a little more tough, but it will still be delicious! Practice makes perfect and the more you make this crust, the better you’ll get at it!
I start my measuring my flour, shortening and salt and cut them together using a pastry cutter like this.
This is the part that takes practice because I cut it until the mix is pretty crumbly. I don’t really have a scientific measurable description, but this picture may help!
Starting to crumble
I will usually grab a small handful of this crumbly mix and squeeze. If it holds together, then I know it’s ready. If it still crumbles, you may need to add a little more shortening.
Ready to squeeze!
Perfect!
At this point, I add my ice water and continue to mix with the pastry cutter until it’s sticking together. I then use my hands to finish incorporating the mixture into a ball but try to not over handle. I then use a knife to cut the ball in half. One half will be the bottom crust and one the top crust.
(This recipe makes enough for two crusts, so for pies that only require a bottom crust, you can use this recipe for two pies, or you can freeze half for later use. Our apple pie requires a top and bottom crust so this recipe makes one apple pie.)
I set out one half of the dough ball on a lightly floured silicone mat and sprinkle a little flour on top of the ball and on my rolling pin. I then roll the dough almost paper thin, making sure it’s big enough to cover and overlap my pie plate. I prefer using glass pie plates, but when I’m gifting pies, the do fine in the aluminum disposable plates like these.
My 6 year old is a big help when it comes to making pies!
Very carefully I will fold the crust (using the mat to help me) in half, and then in half again, making a small triangle that I can easily transfer into my pie plate and gently unfold, in order to cover the plate. Now the bottom crust is done and ready to be filled!
Now I preheat my oven to 300 degrees and clean up my mess from crust making and start to prepare my pie filling.
This part can actually be done ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator overnight or can even be frozen or canned for future use. Sometimes I will even make several whole pies and freeze those as well!
I use 4-5 apples depending on size, and spice them very thin. The variety isn’t very important. I’ve used red delicious, gala, fugi and many others and the pie always comes out perfectly!
Slicing these apples very thin is crucial and you don’t want to get lazy on this part! I’ve had some delicious apple pies with awful texture because of huge chunks of apples that don’t cook unevenly. In fact, my Mamaw used to tell me over and over “paper fine, sis…paper fine” when I would lazily start slicing the apples a bit thicker to save time!
After your apples are peeled and sliced, I add the peels and cores to a bowl for my chickens to enjoy, but they’re excellent for compost too! Then place in a large mixing bowl where you will add thinly sliced softened butter, sugar, flour, and apple pie spice and gently stir until well incorporated.
Now you can dump this into your bottom crust and repeat the process for rolling out the top crust.
Gently fold and place the top crust over the pie using the same method we used for the bottom crust, and use your fingers to pinch the two layers together all around the pie.
Ready to bake!
Now use a sharp knife to trim off excess crust, cut a few vent holes in the top of the pie, and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Some ovens I’ve been able to pull them out at an hour and 15 minutes, some have taken a full 20-30 minutes longer, so just keep an eye on it. The finished product will be a light shade of brown and your house will smell amazing!
Baking and making the house smell amazing!
As tempting as it may be, don’t cut right into your pie. Let it cool for about 20-30 minutes just to let the center set so it doesn’t run and make your crust soggy.
If you have frozen your pie before baking, don’t thaw it. Place it directly from the freezer into the preheated oven and bake it for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, watching the color of the crust.
I hope your family loves this delicious recipe as much as mine does!
Feel free to message me or comment if you have any questions. I would love to help if you need me to!
