Bakers of all skill levels are invited to enter the 18^th Annual APC/Crisco^® National Pie Championships^® to be held April 27-29, 2012 in Orlando. Entry forms will be posted soon at www.piecouncil.org. Those who prefer to appreciate the nuances of pie without all the work won’t want to miss the APC Great American Pie Festival sponsored by Crisco^®, featuring the Never Ending Pie Buffet, held April 28-29, 2012 in nearby Celebration, Fla.

Here is a winning recipe from last year, courtesy of The American Pie Council.

Laura’s Sticky Toffee Pudding Apple Pie
Linda Hundt, DeWitt, Mich.
Crisco^® Innovation Best of Show
Professional
2011 American Pie Council Crisco^® National Pie Championships

Pie Crust
1 ½ cups of flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup cold butter cut in small pieces
½ cup of refrigerated Crisco® shortening

Mix all above ingredients in Kitchenaid style mixer on medium speed swiftly until crust appears “pea-like.” Carefully sprinkle water in crust mix until it starts to become moistened and gathers together. Pat into a disc, wrap and refrigerate for at least one half hour. Roll out on to floured surface and make and crimp crust. Freeze until ready to use.

Apple Filling
Five medium to large Michigan Cortland, Ida Red Apples, peeled, thinly sliced, diced
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Cook above ingredients in large pan on medium heat until cooked halfway. Stir in 3/4 cup homemade caramel until melted.

Homemade caramel – recipe below
Praline pecans – recipe below

Sticky Toffee Pudding Filling
½ cup praline pecans
1 stick of butter softened
½ cup brown sugar
2 T heavy cream
1 T lemon juice
1 egg – beaten
½ cup self-rising flour
Mix above ingredients just until blended.

Crumb topping
¾ cup of flour
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter softened

Mix all together all crumb topping ingredients by hand or a pastry blender until fine and crumbly.

Directions:
Spread sticky toffee pudding mixture on bottom of crust. Put apple mixture over pudding mixture. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for one hour or until knife easily slides into center of pie with no resistance. If pie becomes too brown before done, turn down oven to 350 degrees to finish baking and cover with foil completely.

Top with a generous amount of homemade caramel and praline pecans.

Homemade Caramel
1- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ stick butter
1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract

In heavy 3 quart saucepan, combine all ingredients, but vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, covering all parts of bottom of pan with wire whisk to avoid scorching. Stir until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, constantly stirring, until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and continue stirring until caramel reaches 244F on a candy thermometer or firm-ball stage. Pour in glass container. Cool to use.

Praline Pecans
1 cup of chopped pecans
2 T butter
2 T brown sugar
Melt butter in small pan on medium –low heat until melted. Add pecans and sugar and stir ingredients until you start smelling the nuts roasting. Take off heat and cool. Crumble.

***

The American Pie Council® (APC), the only organization committed to maintaining America’s pie heritage, offers pie lovers plenty of reasons and ways to celebrate. The APC offers recipes on its website www.piecouncil.org and many APC members offer activities, specials and more in celebration of the special day. The APC is comprised of amateur, professional and commercial pie manufacturer members. Any amateur pie maker or pie lover can join for just $40 for a lifetime membership.

photo courtesy of Pillsbury.com

INGREDIENTS
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated sugar cookies
1 container (16 oz) chocolate creamy frosting
Candy corn
Orange decorating icing
Black decorating gel
Miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies as directed on roll. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.
2. Spoon chocolate frosting into resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag. Cut small hole in bottom corner of bag. On each cookie, pipe frosting on outer edge of half of cookie. Arrange candy corn over frosting for feathers.
3. Pipe orange icing onto each cookie to resemble turkey face and feet. Use orange icing to attach baking bits to turkey face for eyes. Pipe black gel on baking bits for centers of eyes.

This recipe is courtesy of Pillsbury.com.

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, or spray with CRISCO® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Place melted butter in shallow dish. Place granulated sugar in another shallow dish.
2. Unroll dough; separate into breadsticks. Dip both sides of each breadstick in butter; coat with sugar. Twist each breadstick; place on cookie sheet. Press down ends firmly.
3. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix glaze ingredients. Remove rolls from oven. Immediately drizzle glaze over rolls. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool 5 minutes. Serve warm.

photo courtesy of Pillsbury.com

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:
1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Topping:
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted, cooled

Garnish:
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon chocolate-flavor syrup

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Place pie crust in 9-inch glass pie plate as directed on box for One-Crust Filled Pie. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, the salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 egg with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Spread cream cheese mixture into bottom of crust-lined pie plate. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate chips.

2. In small bowl, beat topping ingredients on medium speed just until blended. Carefully, pour topping over pecans and chocolate chips. Cover crust edge with 2 to 3-inch-wide strips of foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil during last 15 minutes of bake time.

3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until center is set. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving.

4. In chilled small bowl, beat whipping cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Drizzle each pie wedge with chocolate syrup. Spoon dollop of whipped cream on each pie wedge; drizzle with chocolate syrup. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pie.

Today, with the reliance upon supermarkets, and the ability to freeze bread until it is needed, along with the ready availability of milk and eggs in almost any quantity, we do not have as much left over bread, milk and eggs. That does not mean we can no longer enjoy bread pudding.

But if you don’t have any left over bread, there is no reason to go out and buy bread to make a dessert. If you look in the back of the cupboard, you will probably find a collection of cookies, dessert cakes, and maybe even breakfast breads that seemed like a good idea at the time, but that the kids wouldn’t eat. The food was too expensive or you just thought it too wasteful to chuck it, but no one will eat it. So what do you do?

Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

1. one pound of assorted cheap cookies, donuts, quick breads. Any one of them, or an assortment to make a pound
2. One quart (4 cups) milk

Directions:

1. Break the cookies, breads, whatever you are using into pieces and fill up casserole dish.
2. Pour the milk over the top.
3. Use a spoon and lift the cookies a bit to allow the milk to soak in and to settle around the spaces.
4. Place the casserole in the over and set for 350° F for about 30 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and allow the pudding to rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

If you like, you can make a sauce to spoon over the top. A traditional sauce for bread pudding is rum or bourbon sauce. Since you will probably be serving this to your kids, maybe that is not such a good idea.

Sauce:

What about some lemon sauce? To make a nice warm lemon sauce, you will need:
1. ½ cup fresh lemon juice
2. ½ cup water
3. ½ cup sugar (you can add more to taste)
4. one egg yolk

Directions:

1. Using a wire whisk, whip the water and egg yolk together. Whisk in the lemon juice and sugar.

2. In a small pot, put a few inches of water and bring to a low boil. Place the bowl with the lemon-egg mixture over, not in the water, and whisk it constantly until the sauce begins to thicken.

3. Be careful not to allow the egg to cook. Otherwise you will wind up with scrambled lemon juice. Not good.

Tips:

• You can vary the sauce by using orange instead of lemon juice, or half lime and half lemon juice.
• If you want some extra lemon flavor, put a little lemon zest over the top of the pudding one you spoon the sauce over the top.
• Best of all, you can serve this with a scoop of ice cream, and a squirt of chocolate syrup in the event lemon isn’t your thing.