A Dutch/Canadian and a German-American attempt Apfel Dumplings

After our last class today, I wandered home with one of my friends for supper.  With the prospect of a free evening, she suggested we bake something, so I proceeded to page through one of her French cookbooks.  After passing a number of good looking recipes (but ones that would require a trip to the store), she said, "You know, I haven't made an American dessert in a really long time."  I remembered that I had a number of apples at home, and asked if she'd want to try apple dumplings.

"Dumplings? Qu'est-ce que c'est?"

Bake them we did, using this recipe for the pie crust and this for the dumplings.

And thus a (legitimately) Dutch citizen was able to make and enjoy a popular Pennsylvania Dutch* dessert.  All credit goes to her for the artistically decorated crusts inspired by the fine pommiers** currently in bloom.





*the Pennsylvania Dutch actually being German (a corruption of "Deutsch")
**"Canadian for apple tree," she says.  A little bird tells me that it's French...

A real update

A few recent successes: 

-My mom's Jewish Apple Cake (this recipe is pretty similar)
-Potato Latkes from Smitten Kitchen
-Brown Sugar Cookies from More Best Recipes
-Crock-Pot Pulled Pork with Zesty Peach BBQ Sauce (something I'd canned this summer)

Brown Sugar Cookies

Pizza

And here's a photo I found from the fall:

Kale chips!  Very easy, very addicting, and very healthy.

I'm alive!

Here's an entry I wrote a couple months ago--I couldn't find the cable to transfer photos from my camera and then forgot about the draft I'd written.  Alas, I still haven't found the cable, but I did figure out a way around the problem.

---

With final exams, the busyness of Advent and Christmas, and traveling, there weren't too many cooking experiments around here in the last month or so.  I did try this Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese somewhat successfully, and I can't stop thinking about the Pork Chops with Sauerkraut that my mom made for New Year's (hint: it has sour cream and paprika).  I've also made cabbage rolls twice--really easy to bake a large casserole of them and then freeze in small portions.


If ye be worried that this post might lack photographic culinary detail, do not despair.  I almost wrote that I had lots of potatoes, left, but that is no longer quite the case.  Having many potatoes on hand, as well as bacon in the freezer, and random cream in the refrigerator, I tried this Loaded Baked Potato Soup recipe from Slow-Cooker Revolution by America's Test Kitchen.  Delicious.  Click on the recipe to view it.

I also made Smitten Kitchen's Sour Cherry Slab Pie yesterday, and it turned out fantastically.  I used the all butter crust that she linked (as opposed to my standard shortening crust), and--provided one keeps everything cold--it was very easy to make and work with.

Unfortunately, the pie slab finished off the last of my sour cherry stash in the freezer.  I think I know of a place that has more, though, if I really get desperate.  Just don't tell my roommate.  She's probably enjoying being able to see a little bit of the back wall of the freezer again.