Merry X-mas, from the Doofuses

My friend Jane took some photos of us and the dog for our Christmas card, and also just to have around. Michael nixed this one, but it's one of my faves, so I figured I'd post it.

Say it with me now: "AWWWW"



I hate that painting, incidentally.

Best. Apple Pie. EVER.

First, a caveat: this isn't really pie. It's more like a cakey danish in a pie plate. But oh my dear is it good. At a Thanksgiving potluck last night, it was declared an "addiction". Apt praise in this crowd, although a bit disturbing. I'm regretting not taking photos, because while it didn't look all that impressive, it did look... comforting. Basically, this is a good dessert to make when you don't feel like dealing with pie crust, you don't want to use store bought, and you want something relatively simple and homey that goes well with vanilla ice cream.

Norwegian Apple Cake Pie

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup + 4 tsp sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups peeled grated apple (about one and one half apples, I like golden delicious)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°. Cut together butter, flour, baking powder and salt as you would for pie crust. Add 3/4 cup sugar and mix well. Beat egg, add vanilla, and stir into flour mixture—the result may be crumbly. Spread half of dough in bottom of greased pie plate.

Drain and lightly press some liquid out of apple (don’t squeeze all liquid out) and add 4 tsp sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix well. Spread apple and spices evenly over dough in pie plate. Cover with remaining dough. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until sides and top are golden brown. Spread thin powdered sugar icing over cake while warm (not hot).

Props to my coworker who made this for a pie content at work and her grandma, who gave her the recipe.