Knottie Recipes

apple pie

Adapted from Rebecca Bunting's Rock & Roll Piecrust and Apple Pie recipes in Jax Peters Lowell's The Gluten-Free Bible

• 2/3 c. brown-rice flour
• 2/3 c. tapioca flour
• 2/3 c. potato starch
• 3 T. cornstarch
• 1 T. xanthan gum
• 1.5 t. salt
• 10 T. cold butter, cut into chunks
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground cardamom
• 5-7 c. peeled, cored, and sliced apples

1. Place flours, starches, gum, and salt in food processor with metal blade, mixing to combine.

2. Add cold butter chunks and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

3. Add beaten eggs in steady stream through feed tube with machine running. Process until mixture forms a ball.

4. Divide dough in half and form into two flattened balls.

5. Place one ball on an 18" sheet of plastic wrap, dusting lightly with cornstarch.

6. Place a second sheet of plastic wrap on top of dough and roll out with rolling pin into 12" disc.

7. Remove top layer of wrap and invert dough over 9" pie plate, centering and easing dough into plate. Gently peel off remaining plastic wrap. Place plate on baking sheet to catch drips.

8. Place other ball on 18" sheet of plastic wrap, dusting lightly wth cornstarch.

9. Place second sheet of plastic wrap on top of dough and roll out with rolling pin into 12" disc.

10. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom.

11.  Add apples and stir until slices are coated with sugar mixture.

12. Fill crust with apple mixture, forming an even round.

13. Cover apples with top crust, sealing the edges and fluting decoratively. With a sharp knife, cut a few slits in the top.

14. Place baking sheet and plate in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.

15. Serve with a scoop of gluten-free vanilla ice cream (I love Ben and Jerry's organic vanilla) or a slice of good cheddar cheese. Yum :)

Peanut Butter Balls

This is a recipe we make every year for Christmas, I'm not sure where it came from. They're very easy to make, but it takes a while just because of the sheer size of the recipe. I would guess that I normally get 10 dozen from a batch.

1/2 lb. melted butter
6 c. powdered sugar
1 pint. peanut butter
12 oz. chocolate chips
3/4 cake of paraffin wax, shaved.

Mix butter, powdered sugar and peanut butter in a bowl. Form into balls.* Put a toothpick in the middle of each ball.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and wax. Once this is done being melted take a peanut butter ball and dip it into the chocolate.* Continue until all of the balls are covered.*

Notes:
*I think we normally make them about one inch balls
*We usually place wax paper over a cookie sheet and set the balls on them once they're made and then again once they are dipped in the chocolate. Saves a lot of time on cleanup duty! You might also want to have a spoon handy to fish any that fall off of the tootpick out of the chocolate.
*I normally have enough chocolate to dip them all twice and sometimes a little more that I just drizzle over the top.

two snaps and a kiss!

The evil Erica ;) (evil because she, the evil temptress Knottie rd3shny, posted this recipe early one morning and had me walking around craving them like a zombie all day until we could make them late that night) posted this without a title, but this is my adaptation of the recipe. I hope she approves!

• One bag of Snyder's of Hanover Snaps or other little square pretzels
• One bag of Hershey's Kisses

(Gotta love a recipe with TWO INGREDIENTS!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pretzels out on a cookie sheet. Place an unwrapped kiss on top of each pretzel. Bake for three minutes. Remove from oven and smoosh (yes, that's Erica's word, but it's very accurate!) another square pretzel on top of each kiss, making a little sandwich.

Variations: Kristy (Knottie kap60999) recommends substituting Hershey's Hugs (white and milk chocolates swirled) for the standard Milk Chocolate variety; I think the Rich Dark kisses would taste fabulous! Suzi (Knottie sms297) says to use minipretzels with a kiss then put an M&M on top instead of another pretzel. April (Knottie Luckystar2) says they're great with mint chocolate kisses. Ellen (Knottie ellenchris0506) says her mom makes yummy ones with red and green chocolate. And Jodi (Knottie jrfgirl) offers a version with Rolos instead of kisses and pecan halves instead of the top pretzel, baked for four minutes at 325.

Cheesecake

This was my most favorite cheescake in the world as a kid.  I always begged my mom to make it.  It was also the first cheesecake I ever had...and it is much lighter tasting then your typical cheesecake, which is what made me love it so.  It was passed on to my mom by a lady named Snow.

Crust:

• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 C. flour

Combine.  Press into bottom of 9x13 pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Filling:

Layer 1 - Combine 1 C. powdered sugar, 2 C. cool whip, and 2 bars of Cream Cheese.

Layer 2 - 2 Packages of instant pudding (made according to pgh instructions)

Layer 3 - Cool Whip.

Sour Cream Cheesecake

My mom got this recipe from our neighbor Keiko.  She passed it on to me and insisted that I try it.  It is yummy and flexible.  I've made it with the cheerio crust and the cherry topping.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 C. crushed Cheerios or graham crackers
• 1/2 C. Melted Butter
• 2/3 C. confectioner's sugar

1. For the crust, mix all ingredients and line a 9x9 pan or 9 inch pie pan.

Filling:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 2 t. vanilla
• 2 C. sour cream
• 2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
• 2 T. melted butter

1. For filling, start by putting eggs, sugar, vanilla, and sour cream in a blender.
2. Press liquify for 15 seconds.
3. With motor on, add cream cheese.
4. Add butter.
5. Pour cheese mix into pan.
6. Bake at 320 degrees about 35 minutes.

Topping:

You can use blueberry or cherry pie filling or...

• 1/2 C. sugar
• 3 T. corn starch
• 3 C. blueberries or cherries
• 2 T. water

1. Mix sugar and corn starch in sauce pan.
2. Add fruit and water.
3. Cook until juice is thick and clear, stirring.
4. Pour on cake and chill.

FUDGE

12 large marshmallows
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
pinch of salt 
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup nuts    
Mix the first 5 ingredients in a heavy 2-quart saucepan.  Stir constantly, on medium heat.  Bring to boil (marshmallows will completely melt), and stir 5 more minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in chocolate chips, vanilla, and nuts.  Pour and spread in buttered 8" square  pan.   Let cool and set.  Cut into 1" squares.   

chess pie

I grew up eating chess pies like this one. This is an authentic James Beard 1963 recipe from House and Garden magazine, republished on Epicurious. Yum.

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
1 t. grated lemon rind
1 t. grated orange rind
1/4 t. salt
2 T. lemon juice
9" pastry shell, uncooked, or 6 individual tart shells, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream the butter and sugar and add the egg yolks one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Blend in the grated lemon rinds, the salt, and the lemon juice. Fill the pie or tart shells and bake for 25-30 minutes.

nests and eggs

I sort of cobbled this recipe together after watching a Food Network episode. Depending on how you form the phyllo strips, they can look like nests, and depending on how you scoop the ice cream, it can look like eggs. So for lack of a better name...that's what I'm calling it. :)
The cinnamon and honey lend an unusual flavor to this that reminds me a little of desserts I've had in Mexican restaurants; the cinnamon and phyllo cut the sweetness of the ice cream, and the warm crispiness of the phyllo balances the cold creaminess of the ice cream really nicely. Just a good exercise in contrast. In my opinion, less sauce is more in this case--let the subtle flavors do their job.

one package of phyllo sheets (you'll have plenty left over, so this is a good use for a partial package, or you can just keep some around if this is a recipe you like and make it from time to time)
good quality vanilla ice cream (I like homemade from Ben and Jerry's recipe book, but when I don't have time, I buy Haagen-Dazs, Edy's, Ben and Jerry's, Breyer's, or whatever else strikes my fancy)
chocolate sauce
honey
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut across the still-rolled phyllo sheets (remove any paper first or be sure to remove paper strips in the coming steps) at about 1/4-1/2 inch marks. You'll get strips that look like fettuccine. Arrange the strips into piles on a baking sheet or into nests in a muffin tin. If desired, spray with a little olive oil. Bake until browned to desired golden brownness.
Put phyllo nests into serving dishes. It's nice to sprinkle some cinnamon or drizzle some honey or chocolate sauce onto the dishes beneath the phyllo, but this is a matter of preference and presentation.
Scoop some ice cream onto the phyllo. Drizzle lightly with chocolate sauce and honey then sprinkle with cinnamon.

chocolate turnovers

One of the easiest desserts ever for company, but so decadent :)

one package puff pastry sheets
good quality chocolate (I like Scharffenberger in dark, but semisweet also works)
optional serving additions: whipped cream, ice cream, raspberry sauce (see condiments section for a recipe)

Thaw pastry sheets according to package directions (about 20 minutes). Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out flat and cut into nine squares.
Chop off bits of chocolate from the block--you don't need much for each piece of pastry, maybe the size of your fingertip at most--and put each portion into the center of each square of pastry.
Fold each pastry square into a triangle.
Seal the edges of each triangle. If desired, crimp with a fork. If desired, brush with a little egg beaten with a little water; this will inhibit rising and flaking a bit, but enhance browning. You can also use the egg mixture to seal the edges better if your edges aren't sealing well. (I keep egg substitute like Better 'n Eggs or Egg Beaters in the house and just use a dab of that if I'm having trouble getting a good seal.)
Put the triangles onto a baking sheet (line it with parchment if you prefer supereasy cleanup) and bake until golden to your liking, probably about 15 minutes.
Warn guests that the chocolate will be burn-your-tongue hot when they first come out of the oven (one reason that a la mode is a great way to serve this). Otherwise, enjoy :)

raspberry sauce

Serve this over ice cream or drizzle it on a plate under nearly any dessert for a beautiful presentation and additional flavor. Store it in one of those squeezy ketchup bottles if you have one, like restaurant chefs do, for easiest drizzling, or just store it in whatever you have then put it into a plastic bag and pop a tiny hole in a bottom corner for drizzling--voila! Poor person's piping bag :)

Makes 1.5 c. (enough to last a long time or feed a lot of people)

1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
12 oz. raspberries

Place sugar and water in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow syrup to cool completely. Place raspberries and syrup in the jar of a blender. Puree until smooth. While wearing an apron ;) pour through a fine sieve or colander into a bowl. Discard solids. Serve or store in an airtight container, refrigerated, for up to five days.

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