Rhubarb Apple Pie with Molasses

Have you ever heard of pie with Molasses in it? I hadn't. Until my husband re-stocked our molasses from Costco. It came as a two-pack, with a recipe book! Imagine! A recipe book suited me just fine. We were impressed to see a recipe for a rhubarb-apple pie and had to try it.

I used up a package of my frozen rhubarb and the last of the wild apples we picked a while ago. So far, so good. It baked up really nice. It looked lovely. I enjoyed it and I think the family did too. Every plate was empty. I did find that it tasted a lot like molasses, and not much like apple or rhubarb. I also went skimpy on the shortening in my crust today, so it came out tough. Since supper, my burps taste like molasses! If I make it again, I will be more careful with the crust and I will go easier on the molasses. I did like the taste of butter in the filling. It was "easy as pie" to make and if you love molasses, go for it! Here is the recipe:

Rhubarb Apple Pie Recipe
2 cups diced rhubarb
2 cups diced apples
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup fancy Molasses
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
Pastry for 1 2-crust, 9"pie

Prepare pastry lined pie plate. Mix rhubarb and apples together and pour into pie plates. Mix dry ingredients and pour over fruit. Drizzle molasses over the pie and dot with butter. Cover with pastry and cook at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, and 375 degrees F for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Fall Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

I was out of muffins and had those jack-o-lanterns still looking at me and the last of the cranberries I picked at Thanksgiving were finally ripe so I figured I'd try something new to me: Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins. They turned out beautiful! Somebody had 3 and it wasn't me!

Well, I looked up recipes on line. I modified them a little and came up with this:

Fall Cranberry Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
dash cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
1 soft apple, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with papers or grease them.
In a small bowl, combine sugar and chopped cranberries and apple. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Make a well in the center.
In a third bowl, combine the butter, egg and pumpkin. Pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until almost combined. Fold in the berries & apple. Mix until all the flour is incorporated. Spoon batter into muffin tins to 3/4 full. Sprinkle lightly with a little sugar to get the glazed look. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until muffin tops spring back when pressed lightly with a finger.

Happy Fall!