Ms Wakely's cooked apple pie filling. Great for freezing when you have free apples.

Apple pie filling

200 mL sugar granulated

6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

In a microwave safe casserole, place layers of apples and sprinkle with sugar (prevents browning). Microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Lots of juice should have come out for the apples. Stir.

Mix together
50  mL granulated sugar + 30 mL minute  tapioca + 10 mL cinnamon  and stir into the apple mixture.

Boil for 5 mins, stir then cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Chill the apples before putting them into a pastry shell OR freeze in freezer bags.

ICE BATH

Put ice + water in a large bowl.  Add the pie filling into a smaller bowl that fits inside the ice bowl. Stir until apples are cool. 

IF in a hurry, freeze a steel cake pan, add apples in a thin layer and cool in a freezer!

Quick fix for apple pie filling - I did not make enough!!

I made apple pie filling BUT it wasn't enough!  I had to add raw apples.

Make sure you stir the raw apples in with the cooked ones.

next time I will not use the egg wash! and I will use the apple cut out, not the pumpkin one......

A few pieces of light coloured apples, but the fix worked really well, no one will know except you!

Cheesecake (mini cheesecake from all recipes) I tried out my tiny springform pan

Press the crumbs in, using your measuring cup base or a bench scraper.

Make certain cream cheese is soft, add sugar.  Slowly add the remaining ingredients, scraping and mixing.

I always break the egg into a separate bowl, to avoid shell ruining  my baking.

Batter should be smooth.  A few small lumps will melt during baking.

Set without cracking, barely any brown colour.

Costco advertised this jam as a cheesecake topping so I had to try it!

valentine cookies decorated with royal icing (egg white and sugar), use a zip loc bag for decorating

Place icing in a zip loc bag and cut the corner a tiny bit...start small you can make it larger

Valentine's cookie - adapted from Martha Stewart (not by me)

Carrie Bera recipe given out at a cookie workshop.

Dough is dry, holds together like clay.  I did not refrigerate mine.

the dough is between 2 sheets of parchment

Roll dough in horizontal and vertical, from the center out.  This keeps it even and the edge of the dough doesn't get too thin.

Roll until the dough is 1/2 the length of your pinky nail.

Roll scrap dough with minimum handling.

Stagger cookies  for air circulation

I put the parchment on my FLAT cookie tray before rolling and cutting dough.  Many people use a jelly roll pan which does not let air circulate and causes brown cookie bottoms, also only use shiny pans.  If you don't want to get rid of your jelly roll pan, flip it upside down and use the flat bottom to bake cookies.

baked beans allrecipes.com using a slow cooker

I boiled and simmered the navy beans for 1 hour, until they were tender. I did not add SALT until all of the cooking was done.

Liquid mixture of ketchup, onion, bacon, brown sugar and molasses.  I strained the cooked beans and stirred them into the sauce.  I let them cook on low for 8 hours.  Not sure it is quicker than doing it in the oven...... Taste was good, texture firmer than canned pork and beans.

Hamburger buns - I make 4 large size

I use my stand mixer, let the dough rise til double then shape the dough.  I let them rise then I put them in the oven as it  preheats!!  I have never burned yeast bread.  The dough gets oven spring and continues to bake. I used a recipe that had 500 mL flour total.   I love allrecipes.com   Look for a 4 or 5 star rating.