NikitaContinuing with the 'Murica Saturday Bites theme, I made a Dutch Apple Pie. Funny the American theme would include a Dutch Apple Pie. Well, it's not actually a Dutch pie. This pie was traditionally cooked in a Dutch oven and is known for it's streusel topping rather than the traditional pie dough top. Start to finish, this pie took me two and a half hours, but I also made my own pie crust - a feat I've done maybe three times....maybe. Everything about this pie was perfect. Because I baked this pie at a high temperature for 15 mins, the crust cooked up and did not get soggy from the filling. I did put aluminum foil over the pie during the second half of the first 15 minutes to prevent my sugar top from burning. It came out perfectly crisp and browned. To be honest, I have no clue what kind of apples I bought because the signs are all in cyrillic, and most times they don't translate to English words. So I'll just say I bought four small green apples and three large red apples. They all tasted like a balanced mix between sweet and tart. This was the most perfect apple pie. We ate the whole thing in 1.5 days....with ice cream, of course. Make this pie! Just do it.
NikitaI joined a new Facebook group made up of foreigners and locals alike living in Sofia. As I was scanning the page, I discovered a young lady's post asking where she could find Sweetened Condensed Milk here in Bulgaria. Oddly enough, the stores sell this can of gold in the coffee section versus the baking aisle. I didn't even know it was sold here until several months after living here, so I responded with my newfound grocery store knowledge in hopes that it would help her. She mentioned that she was making a specialty English pie called Banoffee Pie. Banoffee Pie? I had never heard of such a pie which intrigued me. After a quick Google search, a delicious recipe unfolded before my eyes and I happen to have all the ingredients except biscuits. This pie has the flavors of Banana and Toffee (get it? Banoffee) and the crust is made from digestive biscuits, an unsavory way of describing ginger cookies. I used Biscoff cookies, but you could try gingersnaps if you can't find Biscoffs. My favorite part of this recipe is where you make your own dulce de leche - hence you need Sweetened Condensed Milk. It's a little dangerous how easy it is to make and how delicious it is. Christopher and I add dipped apples in the leftover caramel sauce. I may have eaten it by the spoonful too after the pie was done. This is something you can have in your fridge all the time for ice cream, fruit, cookies, brownies, cheesecake, and more. The possibilities are endless! Do yourself a favor and try the pie. You'll need a few hours of chilling time, so plan ahead. Happy baking Sunday!
Nikita, Amy and Georgia It's been a couple of low key weeks. And yesterday I was in the mood to do something different. So I made this spongy rice cooker cake. The recipe is adds apples, but since there were no apples in the houses I used up a couple of pears that were pretty close to being over-ripe. I also used a chai tea bag for the spicey flavoring. I added the tea bag to pears and honey. (removed it before covering the bottom of the rice cooker pan. The cake was nice and spongy and the pear chai flavor is the best. If you are looking for a tasty, spongy flavorful cake. Try this recipe. Change up the fruit as you like Clementine was my company for the day. Actually, she and chubchub curled up on our bed and abandoned me for most of the day. The lower right hand pic are some international forever stamps. These bad boys will work better than any other postage to your friends and family oversees. Nikita and fam got their Christmas card before others that were sent weeks earlier. Until next time!
Cheer! Georgia |
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