The Pug Hollow Horde Cooks a Howliday Feast - The Spiced Apple Pie

If you're tired of the traditional pumpkin and pecan pies, why not try something a little different? This apple pie is spicy, and full of flavor. We like to add cranberries and walnuts to ours, but you can easily make this pie without them.

Now every good pie needs a good crust, and you shouldn't be afraid to make your own. Especially when it's as easy as the cream cheese pie crust below. Because this apple pie has an upper and lower crust, we suggest doubling the recipe below, to make enough crust.

Cream Cheese Pie crust: Make 1 day in advance

2 2/3 cups of all purpose flour (if you have Celiac substitute arrowroot flour)
16 tbsp salted sweet cream butter, cubed and frozen
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz cream cheese cut into 4 pieces
3  tbsp cold water
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

 Using a food processor blend the flour, and baking powder, for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and process until the flour looks mealy. Add the vanilla, cold water and vinegar. Process again to mix. Add the butter. Process until the butter has been rendered to pea size at largest.

Remove the mixture from the food processor and knead until becomes a homogeneous single ball and is slightly stretchy.  Divide in half and form into a ball. Form each ball into a disk and refrigerate overnight.


Lay the first ball out onto a flat floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll the disk into a large enough circle to slightly more than cover the inside of your pie tin.
Place the lower crust into the pie tin and trim, leaving a 1 inch overhang.
Roll a second disk large enough to cover your pie, and set it aside.

The Spiced Apple Pie Filling

2 pounds baking apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1/4 cup fresh cranberries
1/4 cup whisky soaked dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
1/8 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tbsp chilled butter, chopped into small chunks


Soak cranberries in good quality whisky at least overnight. (I prefer 24-48 hours)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
In a small skillet toast the spices over medium heat (stirring frequently) until they are warm and fragrant. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the lemon juice, sugar and flour and mix well. Add the sliced apples walnuts, cranberries and toss to coat.
Spoon apple mixture into the prepared crust and scatter the butter across the top. Center the remaining disk over the filling in the bottom crust. Trim the crust, leaving 1 inch overhang. Fold the upper crust overhang under the lower crust overhang and then bring up above the rim of the pie plate to form the elevated edge. Flute the edges together.  Cut a small X in the center of the crust to allow steam to escape during cooking.
Place the pie on a foil covered baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350, and bake 30 minutes longer, or until apples are tender when pierced with a knife through the slit crust.
Cool on wire rack for two hours and serve while still warm.

Pug Hollow Cooks a Howliday Feast - Mushroom Stuffing

Stuffing is one of those things that people either like or they don't.  This mushroom stuffing is good with any sort of meat, whether it's ham, pork loin, or turkey.

1 loaf country-style French bread with crust, dried and cut into 1-inch cubes (bake the cubes on a flat baking sheet for around 15 minutes at 375 degrees to dry)
6 tbsp butter
1 pound mushrooms chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery chopped

2 tsp poultry seasoning
3 large garlic clove, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 large eggs- beaten (egg substitute can be used)
1 ¼ - 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan, add the mushrooms and onion and saute until golden, add the celery and seasonings, and saute for another 3 minutes.
Mix the bread crumbs, vegetables and eggs, mix well.
Add broth until the mixture no longer looks dry (start with around 3/4 cup and add at 1/4 cup increments).
Grease a 9x12 casserole dish or cake pan. Pour bread and vegetable mixture into the baking dish. Cover with greased foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden on top.

Pug Hollow Cooks a Howliday Feast - The Broccoli Cheese Casserole

What Howliday meal would be complete without the broccoli cheese casserole?  It's a must have at our table!

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

One 12 oz package of steam-able broccoli florets
One medium onion, chopped finely
1.5 cups of brown rice cooked
1/2 cup of milk
3 cups of shredded cheese (We use 1 cup Monterrey Jack, 1 cup mild cheddar and 1 cup extra sharp cheddar mixed)
1 cup of sour cream
5 strips of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled(optional)
garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Steam the broccoli as directed on the package and cool. Once cool chop finely.
Mix with the rice and chopped onion.
In a small to medium saucepan, heat 2 cups of cheese, milk and sour cream together. Add the garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
Pour cheese sauce over the rice and broccoli mixture and mix well. Pour results into a casserole dish, and cover with foil.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, top with the last cup of cheese, and bacon bits, and return to the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

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Pug Hollow Cooks a Howliday Feast - The Meat

While a ham or a turkey is more traditional for the meat of a holiday meal, this year the Horde has decided to try something new. It's an experimental recipe, so it may receive a bit of tweaking as we go along. This could also be made with butternut squash, sweet potatoes or turkey in lieu of the pork.

Apple Cider Pork with Apples, Cranberries, and Walnuts

1 pork tenderloin
1 bottle of hard apple cider
1 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp ginger
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 sweet onion, chopped finely
2 baking apples cut in chunks (Braeburn or Gala for a sweeter apple, Granny Smith, Jonathan or Jonagold for a tart apple)
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup fresh cranberries

Mix rosemary, thyme, and ginger with the olive oil. Rub the porkloin with the spiced oil.
Place walnuts, onion, garlic, cranberries and apples into a crockpot. Settle the porkloin on top of the fruit and veggie mix, and add the vegetable stock and bottle of hard cider.
Cook 4-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low. Add more stock if needed.

When done, remove the pork loin from crockpot, and slice for serving.
Use the liquid to drizzle over the loin. The onion, apples, walnuts and cranberries can be used to top a fresh green salad or eaten as a topping for the meat.

Roast Beef French Dips - Slow Cooker Style

If you're like the Pug Hollow Humans, the holidays are busy times, and you don't always feel like cooking a big meal. So we've come up with some recipes for an easy bite, and one of our favorites is our slow cooker French dips.  They're SO tasty, cheaper than buying deli roast beef, and the liquid makes a fantastic dipping sauce without the hassle of making au jus from a mix.
This recipe is based around a small beef roast, of about 1.3 pounds. For larger roasts, add more soup.

Ingredients:
1 beef roast
Sliced cheese - your choice of type. We like Havarti, sharp cheddar or mozzarella
Wheat hoagie rolls
2 cans of beef consomme
1 can of Beefy Mushroom soup

Combine beef roast, and the soups in a crock pot. The goal is to completely cover the roast with the liquid, so add more soup if needed. We like to add a beefy mushroom soup for every two cans of consomme we use.

 Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. You want the roast fork tender and easily shreddable, but you don't want to cook too much of the liquid down.
Remove the roast and shred it, reserve the liquid

Split and toast the hoagie rolls. Add cheese and toast just enough to melt. Fill the sandwich with shredded beef roast. Place some of the reserved liquid into a bowl to use as au jus for dipping.

Enjoy!

(I have no pictures, as we consumed it too fast!)