YESS! Finally! HALLELUIAH! LENT IS OVER. This Lent has gone by surprisingly fast for me now that I think about it. There were of course many temptations along the way like when we had team bonding for soccer which involved about 6 dozen cookies, apple slices, puppy chow, nutella with marshmallow fluff on preztel crisps, and more. Needless to say, I was ready to break down and cry. That night consisted of me sitting by the veggie tray drowning my sorrows in celery and carrots dipped in ranch. <3 Lent… Being in a baking and pastry class at school has been a real burst of sunshine everyday too. Especially when we are making cream puffs, napoleans and sticky buns. However, we did make mini apple pies this week and I did happen to put mine that I made in the fridge in hopes of eating it after Lent before someone else gets to it.

Isn't it cute?

Even though I did not get to baking yesterday, I did get to do a bit of Easter baking on Friday. Although, I didn’t get to as much as I would’ve liked too.

One of the things I made were these sugar cookies.

Not up to the standards Oh well, there is always next time.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and I can honestly say this was the first time I’ve been dissapointed with a recipe from there. I feel 100% sure that I added the right amount of flour to the recipe, however, after I had the dough in the refrigerator for 3 hours (which is way more than they said you needed) and I tried to roll it out, it was just one big sticky mess. I had to add at least a cup and a half of flour to the dough and I could never roll out the dough, I kind of just pressed it down using my hands, then used a cookie cutter and some cute little cookie presses to make designs on the tops of the cookies. After that, I put sprinkles on top. Even though I love putting icing on top, my dad doesn’t, so I just stuck with sprinkles. At least they were cute sprinkles!

Can you even tell it's a duck in there..? haha well at least they taste alright.

Alright, on the the good stuff! As I mentioned earlier, everybody always associates apple baked goods with Fall, but this is too good to have just in the Fall. I mean why should Spring and Summer be deprived? These apple slices may be life changing. That is not an understatement. Seriously, I’ve never liked fruit in baked goods when I was younger until I tried this against my will at my Aunt and Uncle’s house at Thanksgiving a few years ago. The cinnamony (sp?) apples between the two flaky crusts with the glaze on top come in the most perfect proportions. Its fantastic warm or cold. For dessert or breakfast (I’ll close my eyes) It’s like a sheet of apple pie times 2384701874. Try it.

Apple Slices

4-5 apples

1/4 or 1/3 c. sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)

2 T. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

4 pre-made pie dough crusts (or you can make 4 home-made pie crusts using the recipe below)

Icing

2 c. confectioners’ sugar

a few Tablespoons of milk (sorry for the non-exact measurement)

Home-made Pie Crusts

(You will make two of the this recipe for one batch of apple slices)

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

1 c. chilled butter

1/4 c. + 2 T. ice water

1. Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 1/4 c. water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
2. Gently gather the dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 45 minutes before rollling out.
3. Roll out dough and fill with desired filling.

Apple Slices Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Peel apples and slice into small slices, then place into a large bowl. Sprinkle sugar, flour and cinnamon over them. Mix them up good.  (If you are in a pinch you can just use a can or two of apple pie filling)
3. Now, cover a cookie sheet (9×13) with two pie crusts, making sure that it goes up the side of the cookie sheet. Empty the bowl of apples on to the cooke sheet and spread around until the ingredients are level.
4. Now cover with the remaining dough crusts and pinch the sides tight. Use a fork to make holes in the top of the crust, or a knife to make slits (I think the slits look much prettier)
5. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
6. While the apple slices are baking, make the glaze. Place into a bowl the confectioners’ sugar and milk. Beat until it is thick.
7. When apple slices are done, pour the glaze even on top and let it stand. Cover with aluminum foil.

HAPPY EASTER!