WARREN -
Like a treasured souvenir magnet on the refrigerator, this recipe stuck around for years.
Kay Dailey, 68, of Warren, got the recipe from her grandmother, who pretty much taught her to cook.
Article Photos
Kay Dailey of Warren shows a finished Old English apple pie. Dailey got the recipe from her grandmother, who taught her how to cook.
"My grandma was a great cook," Dailey said recently in her cheerful kitchen with the green walls, white trim and border of flowers. "She grew up on a dairy farm."
Dailey's kitchen is small, but she said that makes working in it very convenient. Not that there'd be anybody else in there, anyway - "I do my best work between 5 and 7," she said. Early morning. The rooster sound from the clock above the two-seat table announces the time each hour.
The only advice Dailey has for those who make the pie is just to follow the directions and use the right kind of apples.
Fact Box
Old English Apple Pie (Crustless) - Submitted by Kay Dailey
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped pecans
4 large cooking apples, peeled and sliced (about 6 cups)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Heavy cream or half-and-half (optional)
In medium-size bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with wooden spoon or electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Stir in flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the water until smooth and thick. Stir in pecans. Mound apples in 9-inch pie plate. Mix granulated sugar with remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon; sprinkle over apples. Spoon pecan topping over apples in dollops.
Bake in lowest rack of preheated 375-degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes until apples are tender when pierced with a skewer.
Serve in bowls with cream (if desired).
Makes 8 servings.
(To double the recipe, just use a 13-by-9-inch dish.)
"I always use the Granny Smith apples because it has brown sugar and regular sugar, so you want something to counterbalance that," she said.
Dailey is retired and said she has a passion for numbers.
In 1987, when this recipe won first prize in the dessert category in the Tribune Chronicle's cookbook, she was working at electronic data systems. She's been a bank teller and worked as a cashier at Walmart until 2008.
"This is my grandmother's recipe," Dailey noted in her submission. "Most of the ingredients you would probably have on hand. This is a recipe I submitted in 1987. The finished product looks nice and tastes delicious."
Dailey also is a fan of trivia and enjoys shows like "Jeopardy!" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" She reads a page-a-day calendar then shares the past pages of facts with her friends.
"I used to entertain the people at Walmart, even though some didn't like it," she said.
Another thing Dailey loves is fruit. She struggles with heat, so when most of her family moved to Hawaii - her dad was in Pearl Harbor the year after it was attacked - she stayed behind. But she's been there 18 times.
"I used to pig out so bad when I went over there - mango, all that," she said. She has a lot of pineapple recipes, such as her pineapple nut squares with a homemade cream cheese frosting.
She also enjoys making lemon bars, Texas sheet cake, stuffed peppers and scalloped potatoes with pork chops. She offers readers a tip for baked beans - for that brick-oven taste, add 2 tablespoons of instant coffee. By the time it bakes, the granules will have dissolved.
Dailey seems proud of her Warren ties.
"My grandfather was an attorney here for 50 years," she said. And her grandmother, Grace Winnagel, was a genealogist working at the library, another place Dailey spends a lot of her time.
The 1961 graduate of Warren G. Harding said she's one of a few left on her side of the family, so marrying Bob 36 years ago was helpful. He's one of 12 children.
"The Daileys are my family now," she said, "And there's enough of 'em."
He's also a help in the kitchen, having served as a cook with the Marines.
The Daileys like to see the world. Their travels have included Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, whale watching, Niagara Falls and the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.
And all those trips, plus her late brother's collection from Hawaii, are evident in magnet form stuck on the refrigerator.