Karen Pickus: GMA and GMA NOW's Best Kept Secret

Dec. 12, 2007 — -- You may not have seen her on screen, but you've definitely seen her work.

"Good Morning America" chef Karen Pickus helps set up each cooking segment you see on the show. Pickus, who also collaborates on "Good Morning America NOW," shares some of her personal recipes below.

Apple Crisp

This is a wonderful tasting recipe, simple to make and an ideal treat during this abundant apple season. I chose these types of apples because they are readily available, they last throughout the year and, I believe they are the best choice for this preparation.

Ingredients

For the filling:

1 Tbs. lightly salted butter

6 Granny Smith apples

6 Golden Delicious apples

2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp.salt

For the topping:

1 stick lightly salted butter

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tsps. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cardamom

maple whipped cream or vanilla ice cream accompaniment, if desired

Method

For the filling:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x12-inch baking dish (glass or ceramic) with the Tbs. of butter. Peel and core all of the apples. Cut each apple into 12 wedges and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining filling ingredients and toss until all of the apples are well coated. Place the coated apples into the prepared baking dish.

For the topping:

Cut the cold butter into small cubes and refrigerate until ready to use. In a large bowl, place all of the remaining topping ingredients, and stir with a wire whisk. Add the cold butter and break up and combine the butter with your hands until it forms into a crumbly mixture. Alternatively, place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until just combined. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the ingredients form a crumbly mixture. Spread the topping evenly over the apples and place in the preheated oven. Bake until apples are tender when pierced with a knife (about 45 minutes). Let cool on a wire rack. Serve with maple whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Serves 6 to 8

Apple Crumb Pie

This is my crisp recipe, easily turned into a pie, simply by adding some flour to the filling and following the recipe for my pie crust. To save time, use a store-bought pie shell.

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust:

12 Tbs. Butter

4 Tbs. shortening

10 oz. flour

1 pinch salt

1 Tbs. sugar

6 to 8 Tbs. ice water

For the filling:

1 Tbs. lightly salted butter

6 Granny Smith apples

6 Golden Delicious apples

2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. flour

For the topping:

1 stick lightly salted butter

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tsps. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cardamom

Maple whipped cream or vanilla ice cream accompaniment, if desired. Recipes to follow.

Method

For the pie shell:

Cut the butter and the shortening into small cubes and put into the refrigerator until ready to use. Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse a few times until ingredients are combined. Add the cold butter and shortening, then pulse until it is distributed throughout the flour mixture and resembles coarse meal. Add the water through the feed tube and pulse just until the dough begins to form. Place on a lightly floured board and mix with the heel of your palm, spreading out the dough and then collecting the mass together. Repeat this several times until the mass comes together. Pat the dough into a 7" to 8" rectangle, and then fold the dough into thirds. Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for one hour. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling and the topping.

For the filling:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and core all of the apples. Cut each apple into 12 wedges and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining filling ingredients and toss until all of the apples are well coated well. Set aside.

For the topping:

Cut the cold butter into small cubes and refrigerate until ready to use. In a large bowl, place all of the remaining topping ingredients, and stir with a wire whisk. Add the cold butter and break up and combine the butter until it forms into a crumbly mixture. Alternatively, place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until just combined. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the ingredients form a crumbly mixture.

To assemble:

On a lightly floured board, roll about 2/3 of the dough to a 12" round, then fit it into a 10-inch pie pan, flute the edge and place in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. When shell has rested, place filling into the shell, then sprinkle the topping over the apples. Place into the preheated oven. Bake until apples are tender when pierced with a knife and crust is golden (About 45 minutes to 1 hour). Let cool on a wire rack. Serve with maple whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Serves 6 to 8

Maple Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract

3 Tbs. pure maple syrup

Method

Using an electric mixer, or hand-held mixer and a large bowl, whip cream on high speed until it forms soft peaks. Add the vanilla and maple syrup and whip just until the cream is lofty. Place cream to accompany individual servings of Apple Crisp or Apple Crumb Pie.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 whole vanilla bean

10 ounces granulated sugar

10 large egg yolks

3 cups whole milk

3 cups heavy cream

Method

Cut vanilla bean into 5 pieces. Place in a spice grinder with 2 Tbs. of the sugar. Grind until vanilla and sugar are a fine powder. Place into a 4-quart pot. Place half of the remaining sugar and all of the milk and heavy cream into the 4-quart pot. Stir together with a wire whisk. Place the remaining sugar and the egg yolks together in a large bowl. Stir with a wire whisk until thoroughly combined. Bring the sugar-milk mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat. While stirring the egg yolks constantly with a wire whisk, add 2 ladle fulls of hot milk to the egg yolk-sugar mixture. When completely combined, add the mixture back to the 4-quart pot. Turn the heat on to medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon and cook "custard" to 180 degrees, using an instant read thermometer. Turn off the heat and strain the "custard" immediately through a fine mesh strainer. Place plastic wrap onto the hot cream. Let cool on a wire rack for a half hour. Then place in the refrigerator and cool completely. Place into an ice cream freezer and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Place in the freezer until ready to use.

Serve with Apple Crisp or Apple Crumb Pie.

Meet Karen Pickus

Karen Pickus has worked at "Good Morning America" as chef and food stylist behind the scenes since 1993, and helped out at the show previous to that date, ever since Julia Child was the "GMA" food correspondent.

She has worked with every known celebrity chef or cookbook author who has been on our show.

Her responsibilities include preparing the food seen on "Good Morning America" and "Good Morning America NOW," according to the guests' recipes, to break down the recipes into stages and to design and prepare the set. She rehearses the segment along with its producer for the show's director and cameras, and also rehearses the talent through the segment.

Pickus says her work could not have been accomplished without the hardworking "GMA" team.

"It's been a joy to work with such a wonderful team of talented anchors, producers, directors, stage managers, designers, prop people, shipping and receiving, electricians, camera crew, audio and technical crew, the editors and graphic people, the scrods, and control room crew and carpenters, the guards and the maintenance crew, as well as the guests on our show," she said.

Before her time at "GMA," Pickus worked at many New York restaurants, including the Hotel Parker Meridian, the Rainbow Room, the famed La Tulipe restaurant and many others. She has also worked on many cookbooks, magazines, and recipe cards, from writing recipes to testing recipes to food styling, as well as other TV shows, including "Today," "CBS This Morning," "The View," "Regis and Kelly," "Martha Stewart" and the Food Network.

Pickus studied ceramic sculpture and printmaking at the State University of N.Y. college at New Paltz, and received her culinary training at the Culinary Institute of America.