Christmas Recipes

Elfin Shortbread

Source: www.ellesnewenglandkitchen.com

http://www.ellesnewenglandkitchen.com/blog/2008/9/29/holiday-baking-elfin-shortbread-cookies-first-in-a-series.html


Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
3 TB sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 TB red and green sprinkles
Directions:
Mix the flour and sugar in a medium bowl.

Cut in the butter until you get fine crumbs.

Stir in the sprinkles and knead until smooth.

Pat the dough out into an 8x5 inch rectangle on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Cut the dough into 1/2 inch squares, and separate them on the baking sheet. (A bench scraper works really well for cutting them.)

Bake at 325 for 12-14 minutes, and then transfer the cookies on the parchment to a cooling rack.

Store in a tightly covered container at room temp for up to three days or in the freezer for up to three months.



APPLE PIE


Next up, I wanted to make a really good apple pie.  This started out as Grandma Olpe's apple pie on allrecipes.com.  So many people claimed it was their grandma's recipe, I just decided to make my changes and call it apple pie.



Ingredients:
Two pie crusts (I use the Pillsbury premade kind)
1 egg white
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 t cinammon
1/2 t nutmeg
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Add vanilla.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Brush bottom crust with beaten egg white. Fill with apples, mounded slightly.

3. Pour about 2/3 of sugar mixutre over the apples.

4. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour remainder of sugar mixture over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.