Ahhhh, fall…fabulous colors, warm days, cool nights. A season filled with festivals, family gatherings and fire pits. A perfect time to host small get togethers and let your family and friends know just how much they mean to you.
Have you ever heard the saying, “Show them how much you love them with food”? Make each of your guests feel special and loved by giving that extra effort by creating individual servings of your menu, allowing you to tweak each dish to meet your guests’ particular tastes.
Stoneware Mini-bakers will dress up a basic recipe and make friends and family feel important and special. Best of all, you can use them in any season. Four of my family’s favorite recipes can easily be adapted to make individual servings using the mini-bakers.
Cobbler:
A fall day filled with visits to the orchards, festivals, and pumpkin patches is the perfect way for families to enjoy each other and the season. We always purchase the harvest of fruits for making jams, pies, and cobblers. I have the perfect recipe for you, so simple, yet so good. The best part, you can tweak it to your tastes as I have.
I used apples for this recipe but have used blackberries and peaches before. You can substitute with any fruit you desire. Use those canned peaches or apples from the fall or gather blueberries and blackberries fresh from the bushes in the spring.
Apple Cobbler
Ingredients:
- 1 stick margarine
- 1C sugar
- 1C flour
- 1C milk
- pinch salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
Directions:
- Melt margarine, divide and pour into dishes coating sides.
- Mix together sugar, flour, milk, salt, and baking powder.
- Pour mixture into individual dishes, dividing equally.
- Add 1 layer of fruit. (I added 1-2 apples for individual baker)
- Sprinkle sugar over the top.
Bake: 350 degrees for 45 minutes or till top brown.
*For individual dish, I divided the recipe into fourths and baked for 30 minutes.*
Individual Apple Pie:
During apple season, I like to make my apple pies and pie filling while the apples are fresh and juicy from the orchard. It has taken a few years to perfect, but this recipe gets rave reviews every time. Best of all, you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze; just thaw and bake. Top with vanilla bean ice cream for pie a-la-mode. As an extra kick, add our yummy Mocha Vanilla Sea Salt. Yummmmm!
Apple Pie
Ingredients:
- 6-8 medium sized apples
- ¾ -1 C sugar
- 2Tb flour
- ½ – 1 tsp cinnamon to taste
Directions
Pie filling:
- Cut apples into medium to thin slices; I use my apple corer and slicer to make this process go quickly.
- Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together well.
- Pour mixture over apples and stir to cover; do this in a couple smaller sections to get good coverage.
Crust:
- Purchase the premade refrigerated pie crusts.
- Cut the crusts two to three inches wider than dish and line the bottom of the Stoneware Mini-baker.
- Divide the pie filling between four to six mini-baker dishes.
Topping: Crumb Crust
- Combine ½ C flour, ¼ C sugar, and ¼ C butter at room temperature.
- Using a fork, cut the butter/margarine into the dry ingredients until you have a crumble, coarse mixture.
- Top each individual pie with topping.
Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or till done.
Hint: I always use two or three varieties of apples, mixing the tart, sweet, and crisp varieties.
Chicken Pot Pie:
As the weather cools use your Stoneware Mini-bakers to prepare delicious, filling, and heart-warming chicken pot pies. My husband and I have the proverbial empty nest and making individual pot pies ahead saves time later when you want to cuddle up next to the fire. Just bake and serve.
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients:
- ¼ C fat drippings (can substitute butter or margarine)
- ¼ C flour
- 3-4 C Milk
- 1 pkg. frozen mixed vegetables
- 2-3 C cooked chicken cubed
- salt/pepper to taste; garlic (optional)
- 1 pkg biscuits
Directions:
- Heat fat drippings on medium heat in a large saucepan.
- Stir in flour a tablespoon or more at a time, until flour incorporates with all oils.
- Slowly add in milk and stir with a spoon or whisk.
- Heat the mixture over medium heat until it begins to bubble, stirring until completely mixed and there are no lumps.
- Continuously stir to keep from burning or creating lumps.
- Pay attention to the feel of the sauce as it thickens. If it feels like it is getting too thick, slowly add more liquid until you get the consistency you want. (Don’t worry, if you get the gravy too thin, you can always add a mixture of cornstarch and cold water to slowly thicken it up.)
- When you get the gravy to the desired consistency, add in ½ package of mixed vegetables and your cubed chicken. (Can add more or less to fit your tastes.)
- Salt and pepper to taste. We also like to add in garlic to add flavor.
- Top with a biscuit or two.
Cheesy Taters:
This recipe was given to me by a very good friend. I tweaked it to fit our family’s tastes, and it quickly became a favorite. Not too many family gatherings go by without someone asking for it to be made. This is another recipe that you can easily make your own by adjusting the amount of and varieties of ingredients. Just make the basic recipe and tweak seasonings, sourcream, or soups to fit individual tastes as you add to the mini-bakers.
Cheesy Taters
Ingredients:
- 2 Tb butter
- ½ C dried onion
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 1 can cheddar cheese soup
- sour cream (to taste)
- 1 pkg frozen shredded potatoes
Directions:
- Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat.
- Add in dried onion. Coat and heat for 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine cream of chicken soup, cheddar cheese soup, sour cream and butter/onion mixture. Stir until mixed.
- Slowly add in frozen potatoes, mixing as you go.
- Divide recipe into four to six mini-bakers.
Bake 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until potatoes are browned.
Brownies:
I couldn’t end the article without a recipe that I am sure will be a hit for the chocolate lovers in your family. Deep, rich, chocolaty brownies. Top off with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzle the top with chocolate or caramel syrup. I added the mocha-vanilla sea salt for a sweet and salty taste. Serve on one of our cotton crocheted pot holders.
Brownies
Ingredients:
- Fudge Brownie mix – use your favorite
Directions:
- Mix as directed on the package.
- Divide into four to six mini-bakers.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- For rich, fudgy brownies, remove from the oven when the toothpick is almost clean.
- Let cool and top with icecream and your favorite syrup. Serve.
