Little Fried Pies

That's the best name for these, because that's what they taste like. Made with wonton wrappers, filled just like a turnover, fried and covered with confectioners sugar. Crispy and sweet... they were described as "little pieces of fried joy"!

Although I highly recommend the homemade apple filling below (it's so yummy!), you can use canned pie filling. You will need to pulse the filling in a blender to chop up the fruit a bit. Try different fillings, like cherry, raspberry or peach...

 Apple Pie Filling

 Peel and chop 2 large apples. In a small bowl whisk together until no lumps remain:
    2/3 cup sugar
    1 tsp. ground cinnamon
    4 tbsp. potato or corn starch
    pinch of sea salt

Whisk in 1 cup cold water; set aside. In a saucepan, melt 3 tbsp. unsalted butter over medium-high heat and add the chopped apple. Fry until tender. Add the sugar/water mixture and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until thick. Remove from heat.

Makes enough filling for about 3 1/2-4 dozen pies. If you don't want to fry so many pies, use the rest of the apple filling for muffins. It's wonderful!

In a small dish, whisk one egg. Take one wonton wrapper, fill with about a 1 1/2 tsp. of filling use your finger or a pastry brush to brush the top two corners of the wrapper as shown. Fold over and press firm all the way around to seal. Seal very well! Done and ready to fry. Repeat with remaining filling.

 

 Heat 1 1/2" vegetable oil to about 270 degrees. Getting the temperature of the oil just right can be tricky, but you can test it with a small scrap of wonton wrapper. As soon as you drop the scrap in, it should immediately rise to the top, surrounded with lots of bubbles, and should be brown within about 10 seconds and be ready to turn over. If the oil is too hot, anything you drop in will burn within a few seconds! 

Drop the pies in one or two at a time, fry until light brown and then turn over with a pair of tongs. When brown on both sides, remove and drain on a paper towel.

 

Cool for a couple of minutes, drop into confectioners sugar and coat all over. 

So delicious. Enjoy them! Jessica

Cranberry Sauce

We had to share our recipe this morning as Zoe says, "It's delicious!" Have to love an 11-year-old take on cranberry sauce.

6 cups fresh cranberries
1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 orange - cut up small

1. Wash and sort cranberries. Place the first 3 ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring and mashing and the cranberries burst. (Our favorite part!) Reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

2. Take off the heat and add the last three ingredients. Stir and mash a little more. Put into a glass dish and let cool on the counter, then refrigerate.

This recipe is so easy, there is no excuse for not making your own cranberry sauce! No more canned cranberry! Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Table Candles

I love all the little ornament pumpkins in the grocery stores right before Thanksgiving. These are Thanksgiving table candles are pretty and easy to make.

You'll need:
Small striped pumpkins - find ones that sit fairly flat
4 tapers
Melted wax - use old candles!
3/4" drill bit
Exacto knife
Strong glue - like wood glue
Pretty ribbon - 17" or more for each taper

First, take off the pumpkin stems. A pair of pliers work great to snap them off. 

Put your old wax in a canning jar or use almost used up candles in jars. Fill a pan with water and place the jar in the pan. Boil until the wax is melted. Amazing, the top of the jar was not hot so you can pour easily!

Meanwhile, drill a hole through the top of each pumpkin. Once you get through the hard top, stop drilling!  Brush off the dust.

Use your knife to open the hole a little more at the top if the taper doesn't fit properly. You want it be be very snug, but you don't want to break your candle trying to twist it in.

Pour wax into each candle hole, until you are 1/4" from the top. Use a cotton swab to wax the very top or roll the pumpkin a bit to cover any flesh at the top.

Allow the wax to slightly dry. Squeeze glue around the taper bottom and gently, but firmly twist the candle into the hole. Use a cotton swab to brush glue around the base of the candle on the outside.

Ribbon:
I used about 17" of ribbon. I like to make easy ribbons. Gather the ribbon into a loop.

Make a loop, the same size on the other side, hold with your thumb.

The next two loops will be a little smaller, make each side the same size. Continue decreasing in size until the ribbon is used up. Place a straight pin through the middle.

Stick the pin with ribbon, in between the candle and the base. Gently spread the loops, and pin again, once you have a nice loopy look. Repeat on the other side if you want.

That's it! I have my candles drying nicely for Thanksgiving on my shelf over my table. Place smaller votives in between the larger tapers. These only took about an hour, plenty of time to make before this Thursday! Pretty!