That Icelandic Apple Pie I'm trying to figure out

Best so far:

For the crust:
2 cups flour (260 g)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into small cubes
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream

Whisk together flour and salt. Using hands, work the butter into the flour mixture. Add sour cream and work in with a fork. Once it starts to clump, knead with hands until the dough comes together. Divide in two, form disks, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour. You will only need one disk for this recipe.

For the filling:

1 20 ounce can Kroger apple pie filling

1/2 of a 3.4 ounce box of Vanilla Instant Pudding & Pie Filling (49 g)

Stir until combined.

For the crumble:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature

Stir together dry ingredients. Add butter, toss to coat, then work into the mixture with hands until pea-size (or smaller) crumbs form throughout the mixture. You will not need all of the mixture.

1 10.4 ounce jar of King's Cupboard Cream Caramel Sauce 

Melt in microwave in 15 second increments until smooth. You will not need all of the sauce.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Let one disk of chilled pie dough rest on the counter for 15 minutes.

Roll out the pie dough on a floured surface to about a 12 inch circle. Transfer to a 9" pie pan. Don't stretch the dough. 

Pour filling into pie crust.

Sprinkle on a layer of crumble completely over the filling mixture. Then put an additional layer around the outer edge, so that you have a raised circle of crumble, about an inch thick, near the crimped edge of the pie crust. 

Optional: Brush the crimped edge of the crust with egg wash.

Bake uncovered at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and cook for 30-35 minutes. After about 15 minutes, check to see if the crimped edge needs to be covered. Check after another 10 minutes to see if the whole pie should be tented with foil to prevent too much browning.

After removing the pie from the oven, spoon microwaved Caramel Sauce onto the top of the pie, but not onto the outer ring of crumble.

Cool for 1 hour to allow the filling to set.

This turned out pretty good, it just didn't have the depth of the Icelandic pie. So next time, try two cans of pie filling and a whole box of pudding. 

To try and get the bottom of the pie cooked more, try:

• Use a Hot Baking Sheet: Preheat a heavy baking sheet (lined with foil for easy cleanup) on the lowest rack. Place the pie on the hot sheet.

1. Start with excess on your bottom crust.

Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Sometimes, I roll out my bottom crust a bit thinner that my top crust, just for the sake of knowing this will help it brown better! Transfer your dough to the pie plate. Chill the pie crust in the plate for 10 minutes or so to help the dough relax, then use scissors to trim away the excess dough. You want to leave about 1 inch of excess dough hanging over the edge of the pie plate. This excess will help prevent the dough from shrinking (or, if it does shrink, you won’t lose too much of the edge). We will remove any excess dough after par-baking. Chill the dough again in the refrigerator or freezer until it’s nice and cold (about 15 to 30 minutes). Note: This is the perfect time to preheat your oven—425°F is my preferred pie crust baking temp.

2. Prepare for par-baking.

Use a fork to dock the pie crust all over the base. I usually throw in a few fork pricks on the side crust, too. Place a square of parchment over the dough and fill with pie weights. It’s a good idea to use enough pie weights to come at least halfway up the pie. This helps ensure the pie crust is properly weighted down and means it’s less likely to shrink or form large air bubbles during baking.

Actually, try docking next time. When I put the crust back in for 2-3 minutes without the weights it puffed up and then when I tried to push it back down, little cracks appeared. So dock it and then seal it with egg white.

3. Par-bake.

Bake your bottom crust until it just begins to turn golden at the edges, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and pie weights from the pie crust and return to the oven for 2 to 3 more minutes, just to ensure the base where the weights were isn’t visibly wet. If you want to, you can add a quick brushing of egg white or egg wash at this point, to help seal the base crust from the filling. The pie crust’s retained heat will cook the egg wash.

Don't let your crust cool too much before trimming.

4. Trim the bottom crust.

Let the bottom crust cool for 3 to 5 minutes (but remember not to wait too long, as the crust’s easiest to trim while it’s still slightly warm). Use a pair of sharp kitchen scissors to trim the excess crust. Trim the crust so it meets flush with the edge of the pie plate. While you work, use your fingers to lightly loosen the pie edges from the edge of the pie plate. This will most likely happen naturally while you trim with scissors, but you can give it a little nudge in the right direction, if needed. Let the bottom crust cool completely before continuing.

Used 1 1/2 of the crumble. Baked at 425 for 10 minutes then with the rim covered. Then turned the heat down to 350 and cooked for 30 minutes. Then I removed the rim (be careful, it will break the edge crust) and cooked another 5 minutes.

No-Splatter Burger Patties

This method is the cleanest way I've found to have plenty of burger patties on hand. They aren't as good as freshly grilled, but if you've got to just grab something nourishing, these will do the trick. You can take them on the plane as long as your bag isn't over 4 ounces. Cut them into "fries" for easy eating.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Place frozen hamburger patties on a cookie sheet covered with heavy duty foil. Season generously with salt.

Cook for 20 minutes. Flip patties and season with salt again.

Cook for another 20 minutes. They are done at 165 degrees, but I usually stop at 155 degrees. 

Remove patties to a plate to cool, then refrigerate. 

This method will work for patties that are not frozen. You'll just need to shorten the cooking time.

Clean-up should just be to let the cookie sheet cool and then throw away the foil. If you want to make tallow, pour the grease into a jar while it is still hot.

Egg White Rolls

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1 1/2 cups egg white powder (measured in a liquid measuring cup)

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 cup allulose

1/4 teaspoon salt

Put into a stand mixer with the whip attachment. Turn on low and pour in:

1 1/2 cup water

Turn mixer to high and whip on high until stiff peaks form.

Using a greased ice cream scoop*, dish out rolls onto prepared pans. Cook 15 minutes. Makes 30-40 rolls.  

*Works for awhile, then you have to help the mixture out with a spoon.

Modified Maria Emmerich recipe.

Beef Stew Slow Cooker Variations

 

• Beef Stew Ingredients (Martha Stewart style)
• Serves 6
• 3 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1 ½-inch cubes
  ⅓ cup tomato paste
  3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  Coarse salt and ground pepper
  1 pound medium onions (about 2), diced
  1 potatoes, peeled, diced
  1 pound carrots, diced
  6 garlic cloves, smashed
  2 bay leaves
• Slow Cooker Instructions:

  1. 1. Place the beef in a 5-quart slow cooker.

  1. 2. Distribute tomato paste, vinegar, and flour over beef; season generously with salt and pepper. Add onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves.

  1. 3. Cover slow cooker; cook on high until beef is fork-tender, about 5 hours (or cook on low heat 8 hours). Taste to see if it needs more salt before serving.
  2. Gourmandise Style: Replace potato with 4 cups diced butternut squash and replace the carrots with 1 cup diced prunes.
  3. 
     

Popovers (Individual Oven Pancake Style)

Put muffin tin in oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Bring eggs and milk to a warm room temp by putting eggs in very warm (tap) water for about 10 minutes and warming milk in microwave (only takes about 15 seconds).

In a blender cup (or blender if doing a large batch), blend eggs and milk. Add flour and salt. Blend again.*

When the oven has come to temp, carefully remove the muffin tin and add about 3/4 teaspoon butter in each muffin cup, making sure the sides are well buttered (a pastry brush works well). Quickly fill the cups half-full, then try to divide the rest of the batter equally.

Bake popovers until they are beautifully risen and browned, about 30-35 minutes. 

DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING BAKING TIME.

*If you don't have a blender cup, you can use an electric mixer, or even whisk by hand. But you want it really frothy.