If someone is the apple of your eye, this is a nice treat to bake for them.

This is a great homemade dish but if you have time or space limitations, you may use store bought pie crust and pie filling.

6 large firm apples (Granny Smith apples or large Macintosh are good, Delicious apples are usually too soft after baking, organic apples are nice if you can get them.)

Pie filling

Pie crust (11⁄2 crusts)

Wash apples (with special soap for fruit and vegetables, or one drop of dish soap or two drops of vinegar in lots of water) and polish apples. Slice the top off the apples and remove the insides of the apple, core and all, leaving about 1 inch of apple “wall” or a little more around the sides. Make sure the apple walls are sturdy.

Fill each apple with pie filling of your choice (see below.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lay 4 pie crust strips on top of each apple and weave them, over and under, with 4 pie crust strips in the opposite direction, as you did in kindergarten.

Trim off the pie crust edges so that the crust is pressed over the edge of the apple but looks neat.

Pour water to just cover the bottom of a large, deep casserole or glass pie pan. Arrange pies in apples in pan. You may add just a little more water to the bottom of the pan if it all dries up, so check every 10 minutes or so.

Bake for 22 to 30 minutes or until crust on top is golden brown, but apple sides are tender but firm.

Serve warm.

These pies do not need any other flourishes but if you like whipped cream with the filling, for example, with the tastes of apple pie and cinnamon, serve some on the side.

BUTTERY Pie Crust

11⁄2 cups flour or more as needed

10 Tablespoons butter, very cold

3 to 4 Tablespoons ice water.

2 to 5 drops vanilla or vinegar or flavored vinegar (like raspberry vinegar)

Rolling pin or large glass jar or large glass to roll out dough.

Chop or grate butter and toss with flour in a large bowl.

Add drops of vanilla or vinegar and 2 teaspoons ice water and stir.

Add ice water in 2 other portions as needed. Stop as soon as dough can make a ball that sticks to itself.

Flatten dough into a disc shape but do not play frisbee with it, instead cover it with waxed paper and a rubber band or foil on top, to seal it shut, and put it in your refrigerator for at least one half hour, to thoroughly chill. You can even use your freezer but be careful not to completely freeze the dough because then you can’t roll it out.

Roll out chilled dough on a lightly floured board or counter to about normal 8 or 9 inch pie size plus another 4 inches (so about 12 or 13 inches, 11⁄2 pies worth) and then cut dough into 481⁄4 inch strips that are about 4 inches long or long enough to cover the top of your apples. Use 8 pie crust strips to weave a lattice on each apple.

Pie Fillings

Apple pie is the most traditional filling for a pie apple, but you can also use raspberry, cherry, savory cheese or anything else you think would taste good with apple.

Apple pie filling

2 to 3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 to 11⁄2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Sugar

Butter

Sprinkle apple pieces heavily with sugar. Add 1⁄2 teaspoon of cinnamon and taste. Add more sugar and cinnamon to your taste. When filling is done, and placed in the apple, dot lightly with butter.

Note: drain apple pieces after chopping.

Raspberry filling

1 to 2 cups raspberries

Sugar

Toss raspberries with sugar. Taste and adjust.

Note: you may sprinkle a teaspoon of cornstarch or flour into the raspberry or chopped apple fillings (1/4 teaspoon per apple) or sprinkle with a little bit of tapioca, to absorb extra moisture.

Note: you may add a little cream or custard to create a creamy raspberry filling. Use your imagination.

Cherry

Pit 2 to 3 cups cherries and sprinkle them heavily with sugar or stir pitted cherries carefully with cherry jam.

Savory Cheese filling

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

11⁄4 cup seasoned bread crumbs or cooked stuffing, or more, as needed

11⁄2 cups cheese, sliced or grated

Toss together, taste and adjust ingredients.

Cheese filling

Grated cheese, enough to fill the apples, cheddar preferred but to your taste.

1⁄2 pound to 1 pound or more needed.

Note: you can experiment with puff pastry (in place of pie crust) over the top of apples as well.

Orange Blueberry half and half cobbler

Half fruit, half cake!

Use organic oranges if at possible; oranges are especially great this time of year. If you do not have organic oranges, do not use orange zest, instead use 1⁄4 cup more orange juice and no milk.

1 cup flour (may use half nut flour)

11⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

Dash salt

Dash cardamom

1⁄2 cup butter, melted

1⁄2 cup orange blossom honey

1⁄4 cup half and half

1⁄4 cup milk (may use almond milk)

1⁄2 cup orange juice

Orange zest, organic, 1 to 2 teaspoons, grated

1⁄4 cup brown sugar

1⁄4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

3 cups blueberries

Sugar

Combine flour, baking soda and dash of salt and cardamom in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and set aside.

Let melted butter cool until it is still liquid and warm but not hot. Stir in orange blossom honey. Combine milk, half and half and brown sugar and add to butter mixture. Stir in drops of apple cider vinegar. Add orange juice and orange zest.

Pour this lovely mixture into the well in the flour in the large bowl.

Gently stir until just combined.

Gently stir in blueberries.

Pour into a well-buttered 9 inch-ish casserole or glass dish. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer thrust through the middle comes out clean and the top is lightly golden brown and a little crusty.

Serve warm, with warmed orange cream on the side, to pour over if desired.

Note:  Non-organic orange peel often has edible food wax on it (to prevent dehydration) and sometimes orange food dye injected in it (to make the color even) as well as some pesticide residue on the surface, which you should wash off just before eating or baking, with a drop of dish soap and some water, and then dry. I prefer organic when I can afford it, and it is getting cheaper, but non-organic oranges are still great for their high Vitamin C and for flavonoids, which is in the white stuff inside the peel, and good for chilbains and your circulation generally in this cold, cold winter. You can see why we Northeners still trade for oranges, and why we had them at colonial winter holidays, with peppermint sticks to suck out their juice.

Warmed Orange cream

1 cup heavy cream

1⁄4 cup orange juice

3 drops of apple cider vinegar

Add orange juice to the heavy cream in big spoonfuls, with a drop of apple cider vinegar added to every other spoonful, up to 3 drops total.

Taste and adjust flavor as needed.

Heat in microwave for a few seconds or in a saucepan for just a few minutes. Do not boil.

Note: as an alternative, you may whip the cream and gradually add some of the orange juice (not enough to deflate the whipped cream), probably 1 or 11⁄2 Tablespoons.

Ropa Vieja with avocado chunks

Spicy, shredded beef with vegetables over rice and black beans is warming for a winter dinner.

For slow cooking:

20 ounces tomatoes, chopped, canned is okay

2 bell peppers (about 2 cups), chopped

2 cups chicken broth or lightly salted water

1 shallot, chopped

1 onion, red, chopped

3 cloves garlic, smushed, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Dash red pepper

Dash salt

3 pounds meat, usually flank steak, chopped cross grain, but you may use stew meat or other beef on sale that can be slow cooked and can be shredded

2 bay leaves

After slow cooking:

1 tablespoon flavored vinegar, usually sherry but balsamic or your favorite is okay, as long as it blends well with the other spicy seasonings and lime juice

3 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed from 1 lime

1 avocado, cut in chunks (or 2, if diners really like avocado)

Carrot curls or mini carrots

Serve with enough for 4 to 6 people of the following (these amounts are the minimum, diners may require more per person):

Rice (1/2 cup per person)

Black beans (1/2 cup per person)

Spicy cheese (2 to 3 tablespoons per person)

Tortillas or soft rolls (1 to 2 per person)

Note: Spices, except bay leaves, may be doubled, to your taste.

Note: Cook rice and separately cook black beans so that they will be ready when the main dish is done.

Add all ingredients above, listed for slow cooking, into a large slow cooker or crockpot. Stir. Cook on low for 8 hours. Stir every half hour or so if you can; otherwise, don’t worry about it.

When done, meat should be falling into shreds; shred all meat completely with a knife and fork.

Sprinkle all ingredients with flavored vinegar and lime juice. Toss ingredients.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve Ropa vieja over rice and black beans, or over rice with black beans on the side. Add a generous amount of chopped avocado to each dish.

Grate carrot curls over the top or add mini carrots on the side.

Serve grated spicy cheese on the side, which will melt over the hot dish, as well as tortillas or soft rolls, so that diners may create their own wraps or sandwiches.

— Mel Baker is an experienced chef, caterer and cafe manager. She resides in York County and has published “The Noisy Oven” since 2006. Email her a [email protected].