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Apple Pie, anyone?




It's been a while since I last posted a blog on this site. I think I can say the past two months were the busiest time of the year for me. I had a daughter who graduated from college, a business deal that was closed, correspondence done on time, estimates submitted, and calls and emails that were done. Now, I can enjoy the eerieness of the night, look back, and relax.

It is 1:23 in the morning and I still cannot fall asleep. My thoughts are miles and miles away, thinking wether my daughter and my son were able to get tickets to Boracay, a supposedly pristine beach, south of Manila. This trip is her graduation gift from her dad. He brought her to Singapore-Malaysia-Indonesia last week and they just got back to Manila. The trip to Boracay is her next stop before she returns to SF and leave for Sydney to join the rest of the delegates from USF to attend a youth conference.

On top of my dining table were the baking paraphernalia which I prepared earlier, in case I get the mood to play in my kitchen tonight. Seeing my baking tools and glancing at the luscious granny smith apples on the fruit bowl, I suddenly felt a craving for a mouth-watering, melt-in -your mouth Pate Brisee pastry crust, and caramelly tart apple crunch.

I sifted 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 cup unsalted chilled butter cut into 1/2" cubes, and 1/2 cup iced water. I used the food processor just by pulsing being careful not to overwork the dough. I then formed them into two cylinderical round balls and stored them in the refrigerator, while I worked on my filling.

If you want to get my revised recipe, please go to www.cookingenthusiast.blogspot.com . I said revised recipe because before I come up with of my own version, I have studied a lot of recipes and revise them to my taste and preference. The word traditional does not work for me, because most of those recipes are made to the taste buds of the people from that country. Sometimes that doesn't work for everyone. We have to make some adjustments somewhere to suit our situation.

To continue my blog about why I have to adjust recipes of foreign dishes to my taste. For example, I know that to make a good crust, crisco is one good fat to use, but we know that it contains trans fat. Lard is also, they say, one of the best fat to use to make pastry, but, for people like me, who is under medication to lower my cholesterol, it is better to stay away from those unhealthy stuff.

I also modify the sweetness, use brown instead of white sugar, decrease saltiness, etc. I do not add nor leave out any main ingredients though. Just modify and adjust here and there to enjoy good food.

Enjoy your sweet tooth!

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