Taste the MACtion, Week 8

All eyes in the MAC, nay the nation, will be on Waldo Stadium for the MAC game of the week, undefeated Western Michigan vs. best team they have fielded in 3 decades Eastern Michigan. What better way to celebrate than with a pastry filled with Michigan apples and Michigan cherries? I am not much of a baker, so I had my wife come up with something. It’s very tasty, and it’s easy to make. What more could you ask for? To be left alone to watch football all day Saturday. Two out of three aint bad. Without further ado, her recipe!

What tastes better than apple pie, you ask? How about apple pie with sweet, tart cherries mixed in, and topped with cheese! Everything's better with cheese, am I right? And these tarts are no exception. For the apples, I used Michigan Red Delicious and Jonathan varieties, and for the cheese, Havarti. I was tempted to go with a sharp cheddar at first, but the smooth, mild and buttery taste of Havarti complements both the cherries and the apples and lends just the right amount of creaminess. My toddlers even liked these. The powdered sugar on top makes 'em look real purdy, but is by no means necessary. Just extra tasty. Skip it if buying powdered sugar will emasculate you to the point that you can't face the checkout girl. But then, you're already buying cherry pie filling and crescent rolls, so what the hell, right?! Splurge. You're worth it. Better yet, your buddies are worth it. And they will all thank you, trust me. Bake this up if you dare.

Anna Jones

1 8 oz. pckg crescent dinner rolls

1 cup cherry pie filling

2 slices Havarti cheese

Powdered sugar

2 medium-sized apples

apple juice, optional

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a regular-sized muffin tin with Pam Baking spray; set aside.

2. Peel apples and dice flesh into eraser-sized pieces. Put diced apples in a pan with 1/2 cup of apple juice (or water) and boil for approximately ten minutes, or until apples are tender when pierced by a fork and liquid has evaporated.

3. Once apples are cooked, combine apples in a bowl with one cup of cherry pie filling.

4. Open Crescent rolls and break apart. Drape each crescent roll in its own muffin cup, with the widest part of the dough on the bottom. Spoon a generous, heaping tablespoon of cherry-apple mixture on top of the dough.

Anna Jonea

5. Fold each slice of cheese in fourths. Place each piece of cheese on top of cherry-apple mixture in the muffin cup. You should have eight filled muffin cups, with cheese on each one.

6. Fold all three corners of the dough pockets in, to close your tarts. Pop in the oven. Check after 12 minutes, and look for a nice, golden hue on the tops. Don't pull these out too soon. Undercooked pastry is like stale pizza: only acceptable when nothing else is available. Or when you're drunk, in which case you don't notice. Or care.

7. After removing them from the oven and letting them rest a few minutes, sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar. Do not worry if you don't have a fancy-schmancy sifter available: I didn't. I used a zester. Don't have one of those, you say? Just put the damn sugar on the pastry. It doesn't have to be pretty. After all, this will be the last course of a five chip/dip spread, right?