Once you find bag, pie tastes great

Dorothee Touzin recently requested a recipe for apple pie baked in a paper bag. Thanks to Faye Serofin and to Anne Peturson, who sent in the recipe she's been using for 55 years. Thanks also to Edna Mroz of Beausejour for her recipe for pumpkin jelly roll, a great autumn dessert.

This week Donna Gylywoychuk has a request for an old-time recipe: Her mother used to make a treat out of fingers of stale bread rolled in (she thinks) chocolate and coconut and baked in the oven. Does anyone have a recipe? If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

Paper bag apple pie

1 unbaked 22-cm (9-inch) pie shell

Filling:
3-4 large baking apples
125 ml (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
10 ml (2 tsp) cinnamon
30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
 

Topping:
125 ml (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
125 ml (1/2 cup) butter

Preheat oven to 220 C (425 C). Line pie plate with pastry. Pare, core and quarter apples, then halve each crosswise to make chunks. Place in large bowl. Combine sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle over apples and toss to coat apples well. Place in pastry shell and drizzle with lemon juice. For topping, combine sugar and flour and work in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples to cover the top of the pie. Slide pie into a heavy brown paper bag large enough to cover pie loosely. Fold over ends of bag. Bake for about 1 hour.

Tester's notes: This tasty pie was very easy. In fact, the only hard part was finding a paper bag, since they're no longer given out at the grocery store. I had a slight fear that the whole thing might burst into flames (owing to a past disaster involving pizza and cardboard boxes), but it baked up nicely without incident. The bag keeps the filling moist and helps the pastry cook without over-browning.

Enlarge Image

Paper bag apple pie (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Pumpkin jelly roll

3 eggs
175 ml (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
150 ml (2/3 cup) cooked pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
175 ml (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
5 ml (1 tsp) cinnamon
2 ml (1/2 tsp) ginger
2 ml (1/2 tsp) nutmeg 

Cream cheese filling:
250 g (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
60 ml (1/4 cup) butter, softened
250 ml (1 cup) icing sugar
2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla
Beat all ingredients together, spread over cake and re-roll.

Chantilly ginger:
250 ml (1 cup) whipping cream
125 ml (1/2 cup) ginger snap crumbs
Whip cream until stiff. Fold in crumbs. Spread over cake and re-roll.

Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Grease a 25x38 cm (10x15 inch) jelly roll pan. Line with wax paper. Beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar and beat until thick and light in colour. Slowly beat in pumpkin. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg over top. Fold in carefully. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake onto a clean tea towel that has been covered with icing sugar. Remove wax paper. Roll from the short side, rolling cake and towel together. Cool completely in towel. Fill with either cream cheese filling or Chantilly ginger.

Tester's notes: Pumpkin and spice make this a great autumn variation on the classic jelly roll. I've always been a bit nervous about making jelly rolls (Will they stick? Will they crack?). But this one worked beautifully, and the one slight crack was covered over with a dusting of icing sugar.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 17, 2012 D4