This weekend, I enjoyed a bit of alone time. Not alone time with just myself, but alone time with only one of my children. Even with our oldest off to college, it is hard to get alone time with our three girls still here at home. Typically, I find moments here and there, but with school and weekend activities, there are rarely long blocks of time that I get to spend with one of them.
What made this weekend possible is that Greg was away on a camping trip with Nicole and Addison, which left Keely and I home alone. And I knew that I had to quickly seize the opportunity before she began to fill her weekend with time with her friends. In my mind, I ran through things we could do, lots of things we could do together, but I didn’t want to plan a weekend with every minute packed together — I also wanted to give her space to be along, or simply to spend time with a friend if she wanted.
I thought the two of us could enjoy a dinner at a restaurant on Friday eve, but a mid-day text came from her, asking if she could go to a friends after school. I didn’t entice her with the possibility of a dinner with me that eve, instead agreed to pick her up that evening, as I knew we had all day Saturday together.
Maintaining Traditions
We were both pretty tired on Friday evening, so we both turned in early after catching up on the Great British Baking Show. The following morning I was up early. I brewed myself some coffee and enjoyed it sitting on the deck listening to the quiet of the morning. I eventually made my way into the kitchen so that I could make breakfast. It was a great morning to maintain our Saturday morning waffle tradition., even if the entire family wasn’t here.
I heard her up an around, just as I was finished cooking the last of the waffles. The beautiful morning beckoned, so I quickly set up outside so we could enjoy the weather.
During our relaxing breakfast we made a plan for the day — deciding to head out to do some shopping before returning and beginning our cooking and baking extravaganza. But first, we had apples to pick. The deer, crows and squirrels had been taking their share, so I wanted to pick a bunch for the family to enjoy. We were thinking, about baking hand pies, but I showed her a recipe I had come across the day prior on Williams-Sonoma IG account, and we both agreed Old-Fashioned Apple Dumplings (recipe below) would be our baking adventure.
As for dinner, it was another Saturday eve tradition — homemade pizza and a movie. We decided to make thick crust pizza — as we haven’t had thick crust in some time — and then watched trailers for horror movies before deciding on the original Halloween.
The day was filled, but we were on our own timetable, so we enjoyed time spent together — especially in the kitchen creating. I let Keely take the lead, allowing her to do the cooking and baking, while I supported with the clean up.
It was truly a wonderful day and night spent alone with my dear Keely, and I’m happy that I have been able to maintain our family mealtime traditions, even if we were the only two here at home!
Old-Fashioned Apple Dumplings
For the dough:
- 2 cups (10 oz./315 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (4 oz./125 g) plus 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) ice water, plus more as needed
For the almond streusel:
- 5 Tbs. (2 1/2 oz./75 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (2 oz./60 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (1 oz./30 g) rolled oats
- 1/3 cup (1 1/2 oz./45 g) chopped toasted almonds
- 1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz./75 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 6 sweet-tart baking apples
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water
- 2 cups (14 oz./440 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)
Directions
1. To make the dough, in a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Pulse 2 or 3 times to mix the ingredients evenly. Add the butter and pulse 8 to 10 times, until the butter pieces are the size of peas. Add the ice water and pulse 10 to 12 times. Stop the machine and squeeze a dough piece. If it crumbles, add more water, 1 Tbs. at a time, and pulse just until the dough holds together when pinched. When ready, it should come together in a rough mass in the bowl but not form a ball. Do not overmix. Shape into a compact disk. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
2. While the dough is chilling, make the streusel topping: In a bowl, stir together the melted butter and vanilla. In another bowl, using a fork, stir together the flour, oats, almonds, brown sugar and salt. Add the butter mixture and stir until evenly blended and crumbly. Set aside.
3. Preheat an oven to 400°F (200°C).
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle that is slightly larger than 14 by 21 inches (35 by 53 cm) and trim the edges evenly. Cut into six 7-inch (18-cm) squares. (Alternatively, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each into a 7-inch/18-cm square.)
5. Using an apple corer, core the apples and then peel. Place an apple on each square of dough. Stuff the hollow center with 2 heaping Tbs. of the streusel. Brush the edges of each square with the egg mixture. Bring 2 opposite corners of the dough up over the apple and press together. Fold in the sides of the other 2 corners, bring the corners up over the apple and press together. Repeat with the remaining apples, dough squares and streusel. Place the dumplings in a 9-by-13-inch (23-by-33-cm) baking dish so they are not touching; refrigerate while you make the sauce.
6. In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, salt, and 1 1/4 cups (10 fl. oz./310 ml) water. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring well. Pour the sauce over the dumplings.
7. Bake, spooning the sauce over the dumplings twice during baking, until the crust is golden brown and the apples are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Let the apples cool slightly, then serve warm with the sauce and a dollop of crème fraîche or a scoop of ice cream. Makes 6 dumplings.
Recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma Luscious Fruit Desserts
