Teeny Apple & Pear Pie Cups

There is moment on a day that happened to me, and I imagine it happens to most people. It's the day when you realize you no longer function the way you did in college. It's heartbreaking and awful and if you are anything like me (and Chako) you will fight it. You will fight it tooth and nail, beating it with a rolling pin (or bat...whatever), anything to stop the inevitable.

I need sleep. For real. Not fake sleep. 

I also need food. Healthy food, and occasionally some junk. 

I need conversations with adults, I need to read quietly, I need to take walks, I need to be alone for a few hours, I need to have free time, I need a structured schedule.

Most of all I need sleep.

When I was in college, I usually had class that started between 9a-10a, went most of the day. I would then rehearse between 6p and midnight, then often attend a late night design meeting or class rehearsal. THEN, I'd go to a bar. Or watch Lost. Or get mozzarella sticks.  I usually got mozzarella sticks....

In the past few months I've had moments of expecting to be able to function on this sort of schedule. I'll go to work all day, then do other things, then cook a super late dinner or get some mozzarella sticks (seriously it's an addiction), and then watch 7 episodes of Law & Order: SVU, pass out on the couch at 4am and expect to be able to be up at 7am and deal. NOT TRUE. 

Maybe the bigger moment was the more recent one, the one where I not only realized what was happening to me, but fell in love with it! I love sleeping! I go to bed at 10:30pm and wake up at 6:30am and I don't always feel like death! It's amazing. I eat. Three times a day! Real meals. BREAKFAST!! LUNCH!! Dinner..but that's always been my big meal. I make coffee with a french press in the morning and I have a cup of tea in the late afternoon.

WHO AM I??

The new me, the adult me, the me who doesn't eat cold chipotle out of a bag while taking the A train to Washington Heights. I feel better. I feel like  a real person. Seriously, you should try it.

Sleep. Eat. Talk to friends. Be happy and healthy!

Part of this campaign has led me to trying things I was never crazy about as a kid. Oddly, I always hated pie. Isn't that insane? I started to like pumpkin pie in high school, which led to other creamy pies, but apple pies NEVER did it for me. My mom loves apple pie, it was just never my thing. 

Another thing that has changed for me! So to celebrate, my dear friend Willa and I decided to make little pies that we could eat with our hands. We used apples AND pears. Heaven. Whole wheat pie crust...slightly healthier. The final product was delicious. I ate some. As in more then one. We don't have to talk about how many...

Crust ingredients

 Cubed buttah

Working into a dough!

STARS!!!!!

 Peel

Naked fruit

 Chop and toss

 Toss with yummy things...

 Piecing together...

 Make cups in a cupcake tray

 Fill them up!

 Bake and...TADA!! So cute!

Kids love these! They can just grab them to enjoy a tasty handheld dessert.

Teeny Apple & Pear Pie Cups

You'll Need...

Crust

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) butter, chopped into cubes

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Filling

4 apples (I used Fiji)

2 pears

2-4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp all spice

Juice of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 12 cup cupcake pan. 

Make crust! Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup (1 stick) of the cubed butter. Using your fingers, mix the butter into the dry mixture. When  you get to the consistency of wet sand, add the water, 1 tbsp at a time, until you get a nice dough consistency. You might not need all the water, or you might need a little more. You'll know. Put aside.

Make filling! Chop you apples and pears into small cubes. Toss them in a bowl with the juice of 1 lemon, all spice and sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Pull small chunks of dough, about a 1 1/2 tbsp, and flatten into small rounds. Shape into the cups, if it tears of gets a hole, just fill it in, no worries. Fill with the cups with the fruit filling. Top with a small cube of butter. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 10 minutes or until the tops and edges of the crust are golden brown. Serve warm!

I didn't make enough dough to make tops for the cups to turn them into mini pies, if you want to to do tops just double the dough recipe, you'll probably get a few more pies out of it as well as tops! 

And here's a bonus picture, from the Prospect Park Zoo! Willa was not a big fan of this guy, I kinda loved him...

Farmers Market Loot

Yesterday, Willa and I hit up the little farmers market at Borough Hall in Brooklyn. We got some yummy fresh stuff for dinner and a DELICIOUS cookie shaped like a turkey!! Success? I think so...

Seriously, I should've asked more about that cookie...outrageous.

November cooking challenge: Battenburg Cake. It's happening tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous!!

Fig Infused Gin (and a yummy cocktail)

I love infusions. They seem to fancy and thoughtful and make cocktails just a little bit more special.

And they are so stupid easy.

Literally. No effort. Put some stuff in a jar. Shake. Leave. Magic happens. A quick daily shake. More Magic.

Considering I made a piece of toast today and it set on fire in the toaster, I am pretty proud of my infusion, and happy with how easy it was to create. 

Yea I did that, flames from a toaster oven. FLAMES PEOPLE!!! Luckily, I'm a fire guard. That's the equivalent of a super hero. 

Have a drink!

 Main characters...

Chop the figs up.

Stick them in a pretty jar.

A good friend!

All together now! A shake or two...

About a week later...

Strain into a cool bottle! Yay!

This gin can definitely be enjoyed by itself, on the rocks, but it is super strong and big bitter. I like it best with some mint and fresh lemon juice. So tasty and refreshing! (If you don't have mint, no worries! I didn't the first night, just fresh lemon juice with the slices thrown in works splendidly!)

Fig Infused Gin


You'll Need...


10 figs, cut into quarters
8oz gin
1 jar with air tight lid

Put your figs and booze into the jar. Screw the lid on. Gently shake the jar a few times. Put in a cool spot and let sit for about a week. Every day gently give it one shake. At the end of the week, strain the gin into a bottle through a funnel lined with a layer of cheesecloth to catch all the small pieces of fig.

Feel fancy? Serve these cocktails to your friends and throw around the word infusion. Sweeet.

For Breakfast Today...

I had...
Scrambled eggs with cheddar and tobasco
Sautéed spinach and red peppers
Multi-grain toast with orange-Ginger marmalade
Orange juice

What about you?

Bits + Pieces

1. "Before I Die..." Brooklyn Heights

2. Jar lids from a canning adventure

3. Pork tenderloin with orange-ginger marmalade

4. Happy and refreshed people being crazy

5. Fig infused gin with fresh lemon juice on the rocks

Hope you had a lovely weekend! :-)

Orange-Ginger Marmalade

I made a whole bunch of Halloween treats for some festive gift bags. I made pumpkin bread and little ghost meringue cookies annnnnd....Orange-Ginger Marmalade! Bright orange marmalade! So fun! So yummy!

This marmalade is great on toast, on muffins, and as we discovered last night, amazing on a pork tenderloin. Make this. Go buy a pork tenderloin. Slather it, roast it, be in heaven. Literally, Sarah, Chako and I sat down for Friday dinner with this pork and there was no talking, for a long time. Just eating. Very happy end of the week.

The stars!

Chopping

Pretty little pieces

Tons of orange!

Stuff in a pot

 Cook it

It should look like this soon...

Sterilized cans

Pretty!

Making this marmalade is a pretty messy, sticky, sweet, juicy process. Get ready to just dive in and don't try and clean too much as you go, you'll just get frustrated.

So, I give you this marmalade, and I say, make it, and put it on stuff!

Orange-Ginger Marmalade
Adapted from Food In Jars

You'll Need...
8 oranges, chopped up in to small pieces
4 cups of sugar
5 inches of fresh grated ginger
Juice of 2 lemons
1 packet of liquid pectin

Chop chop and grate. Put the orange, ginger, sugar, and lemon juice into a large pot. Bring to a boil. Let it cook for another 15 minutes to that the peel gets nice and soft. Add the pectin and let cook for another 10 minutes, until the marmalade is coating the back of your spoon. Pour (CAREFULLY!) the marmalade into sterilized jars, and then should you want to do the whole canning thing, process the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. Be so careful. It hurts to get burned.


Oh, and these are the Halloween treats and gift bags!!

Halloween Dinner at Braai

We rarely do restaurant reviews here at the Tiniest Kitchen, but Sarah and I had such an amazing dinner last night I wanted to share.

I had never gone for South African food, so when Sar said she was making a reservation at Braai, a South African restaurant in Hell's Kitchen, I didn't know what to expect.

It was so tasty. Tasty tasty tasty.

A whole array of spices combined in ways I've never tasted before, really exciting flavors, and tender, juicy meats. These are things Chantel and Sarah like.

We ordered a lot of things that seemed familiar but the way they were prepared was totally surprising. The meatballs were a big winner for me, the meat was flavorful and the broth was spicy with thick pieces of pepper and tomato floating around. I was surprised at the spice level of this dish, which of course complimented my new obsession with spicy things...

The porkchops, as you can see, did not last on the platter for the picture. We were like two vultures attacking prey with those things.

I think Sarah's favorite was the calamari, I can't find the description for the dish online to explain how it was prepared, but it was outrageous. One of the less spicy dishes on our sampler, but grilled to perfection and soaked in a think buttery broth.

Go! Try the truffle coconut pap! Even if you don't know what it is!! Seriously!