What’s Cookin’?
By Donna Zitter Bordelon
A doctor and an architect both loved the same lady. Each day, the doctor gave the lady a rose and the architect gave her an apple. The lady knew the significance of a lover’s rose, but wondered why the architect gave her an apple each day. She asked, and the architect said: “Because an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
October is National Apple Month. Lots of local apples are ready for the picking in many produce aisles right now, and without a doubt, local apples are “the best” tasting. In the 1720s, botanist and horticulturalist John Bartram facilitated the cultivation of different apple varieties in Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River, at what is now called Bartram’s Garden. Now, apples are grown in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, which ranks fourth in apple production in the country. Pick up a few local apples to try the following apple torte.
APPLE TORTE
Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour
Cheese Filling:
2 packages cream cheese (8 oz. each), softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Apple Topping:
3 cups baking apples, peeled, sliced thin (3–4 apples)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Crust: Combine butter, sugar, vanilla and flour, cutting butter with two knives or with fingers, working into a dough. Press the dough onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
Filling: In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Pour the cheese filling over the crust.
Topping: Combine the sugar and cinnamon and toss with the sliced apples.
Arrange the apple slices over the cheese filling in a concentric circle, overlapping the slices.
Bake for 55–65 minutes until the center is set. (Best to place a sheet of foil under springform pan or put pan on baking sheet.)
Cool torte and run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan before removing sides of springform pan. Store in the refrigerator.
Eat well, live long, enjoy!
(Questions or tips can be sent to Donna Zitter Bordelon at WhatscookinNEPhilly@gmail.com or in care of the Times, 2 Executive Campus, Suite 400, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002)
