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Moroccan Apple Pie
This recipe is from my friend Pat whose husband is Moroccan. They have the cutest sons you've ever seen!
Crust:
1-1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
4 tblsp. warm milk
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Pinch of salt
1 medium egg
**Of course, I truly make horrible crust so I always used the ready made ones.
Filling:
5 Granny Smith apples
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tblsp. lemon juice
2/3 cup dark raisins
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup crushed almonds with skins on
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Soak yeast in small bowl with warm milk. Add sugar. Allow yeast to rise
until double in volume. Quickly by hand, mix remaining crust ingredients
with yeast mixture. This will make a soft dough. Cover dough and let it
rise at room temperature until double in volume.
Slice each apple into eighths to make thick slices. Add cinnamon and lemon
juice. Mix thoroughly together.
Take raised dough and press into 12-inch pie pan with removable bottom or
two small pie tins.
Spread raisins over dough. Arrange apple slices closely together.
Mix remaining ingredients together until crumbly. Press mixture on top
of apples to cover completely.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 50 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce
heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes to make
crust golden brown and crispy.
If baked in pan with removable bottom, unmold pie.
Serves 8 to 10.
Free-Form Honey Cake (Mahalkra or Shebbakia)
Another dessert from Pat :)
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sweet butter
1 package active dry yeast or 1/1 package baker's yeast
3 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
2 to 3 tablespoons orange flower water (??)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 pounds all-purpose flour
Pinch of pulverized saffron
Salad oil for deep frying
5 cups dark honey
1/3 cup sesame seeds, oven toasted
1. Melt and cool the 1-1/2 cups butter. Sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup
lukewarm
water, stir to dissolve, and set in a warm place until bubbly.
2. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs with the salt, baking powder, orange
flower water, and vanilla. Then add the vinegar and melted butter.
3. Place the flour in large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
Slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden
spoon until well combined. Then add the bubbling yeast. Work into a stiff
dough, adding only as much water as you need. Knead well by pressing down
and pushing forward with the heel of your hand and folding the dough over
onto itself. Knead until smooth and elastic.
4. Blend 1 tablespoon butter with the pulverized saffron until bright
yellow. Then blend into the dough. Separate the dough into 4 equal parts.
Cover and let stand 10 minutes.
5. Take one ball of dough and slap it around to flatten it out. Butter the
rolling pin and start rolling the dough out until it is as thin as thick
cardboard, about 10 inches round. Trim all around with a pastry wheel and cut
into pieces approx. 5 x 3 inches. Make 5 parallel incisions to form 6 strips
within each piece. Loop every other strip in your fingers and then bring the
lower opposite points together so that a pretzel shape is formed. Place them
on a buttered baking sheet covered while preparing the others. (The shape
is really unimportant as long as they look more or less like pretzels.)
,br>
6. Heat the honey in a large, deep saucepan. (Honey tends to boil up rather
high.) Heat the oil a skillet to a depth of a least 1-1/4 inches. Fry 6 or
7 cakes on both sides until brown (not light but not too dark). Immediately
drop the cakes into the hot honey. As soon as the honey boils up, remove
the cakes to a colander to drain. Sprinkle at once with sesame seeds.
Serve cool.
Note: Another type, also called shebbakia, is made by pressing leavened
batter through a pastry tube, in the shape of rosettes, into boiling oil.
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