Double The Streusel Apple Butter Bars

It's finally starting to feel like fall in the central California valley.  The temps have dropped, summer annuals are being replaced with fall/winter plantings, the leaves are slowly turning colors.  We even got a little rain, which did so much to clear the air from the effects of the summer forest fires and recent almond harvest. I've been lazy (I justify that by saying I've been busy) and not started any fall decorating, or even bought a single pumpkin, but my baking has definitely taken on an autumn twist!

I love apple butter, each year I make 2 or 3 batches of crockpot apple butter.  It's easy to make and the house smells wonderful while it's cooking. I saw this bar recipe on the Half Baked Harvest Instagram page and quickly bumped it to the top of my "things to bake" list. Not only do they contain apple butter and apple slices, but also all the familiar fall spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg. I'm a sucker for anything with streusel in it.  The streusel mix serves two purposes in this recipe, pressed down into the pan and baked, it becomes a soft buttery crust with the remaining becoming the glorious crumbly topping that I love. This is a great fall treat, perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

Double the Streusel Apple Butter Bars

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashion oats
1/2 cup pecans
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks ( 1 cup) cold salted butter, cubed

Filling:
1 cup apple butter, homemade or store bought
2 honey crisp apples, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 9x13-baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, oats, pecans, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon, until the oats are mostly ground. Add the cold butter, pulse until a crumbly dough forms.

Press 1/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Transfer to the oven and bake 10 minutes or until lightly golden.

Meanwhile, make the filling.  In a medium bowl, toss the sliced apples with the male syrup, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Spread the apple butter evenly over the pre-baked crust.  Arrange the apples in an even layer over the apple butter. Sprinkle the remaining 2/3 streusel dough over top of the apples.  Return to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crumble is a light golden brown.

Let cool completely before cutting into bars. 

Apple Puff Pastry Tart

I've expressed before how much I love puff pastry and that it's a staple in my freezer. Recently I had an overwhelming craving for something sweet.  I had a rough day at work and needed a little treat. It's relaxing for me to bake, but I didn't have a lot of time to devote to my sweet treat desire. I pulled out a sheet of puff pastry and made this quick apple tart. Easy, good, and just enough to satisfy my craving for a sweet! 

Any apple can be used with this tart.  Fuji apples had just been picked at my favorite fruit stand so I grabbed a bag of them one afternoon!

Apple Puff Pastry Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
3-5 apples
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water to make egg wash
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Open pastry sheet and remove paper.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry sheet into an 8-by-14-inch rectangle. Trim edges with a pizza cutter or knife, if necessary to make edges even. Transfer to a baking sheet; place in freezer.

To make streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender, or two knives, mix ingredients until the mixture is crumbly and it starts holding together.

Peel, core, and slice apples 1/4-inch thick. 

Remove pastry from freezer.  Brush pastry with egg wash, avoiding edges. Using a sharp paring knife, score a 3/4-inch border around pastry (do not cut all the way through). Arrange apples inside border, and dot with butter.  Sprinkle streusel topping over the apples. Bake until pastry is golden and apples are tender, 30 to 35 minutes.

Slightly cutting around the edges allows the border to puff up and enclose the apples.

Pumpkin Apple Bread with Streusel Topping

I stop at Starbucks far too often.  I'm trying to break the habit as their recent price increase has tipped me over into the "I shouldn't be doing this" category.  I have a latte machine at home, it's easy to make one to go.  On the days I'm traveling or running errands, though, I still seem to pull through a drive-thru at some time during the day.  While there I usually grab a slice of their pumpkin bread. Now their pumpkin bread is nothing special, it's just ok and convenient. Pumpkin bread is so easy to make and I do make it quite often, especially during the fall months.

This pumpkin bread is a little different, with the addition of apples to the batter and a streusel topping. The apples make for a very moist bread. Any kind of baking apple can be used.  If you want a little bit of tartness use a Granny Smith apple. I'm a sucker for any baked good with a streusel topping so I especially loved this bread. And, yes, I made my latte and grabbed my slice of bread before leaving home.  Good girl, Julie!

Pumpkin Apple Bread with Streusel Topping

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple juice
2 large apples, peeled, cored and diced
Streusel Topping:
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) two 9x5-inch loaf pans (see note below).

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and apple juice in large mixer bowl.  Beat until just blended.

Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened.

Fold in apples.

Spoon batter equally into prepared loaf pans.

Mix streusel topping in a separate bowl with a fork and sprinkle evenly over each loaf.

Bake for 60-65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans to cool completely on wire racks.

(Can also be baked in six 3x5-inch mini loaf pans.  Reduce baking time to 45-to minutes.)

Blue Ribbon Apple Pie

I love to read, rarely is there a day go by that I don't have my nose in a book at some time during the day or evening (now days my books are my Kindle iPad ap!) It's part of my going-to-sleep routine, I read a little each night in bed. I mostly gravitate to crime novels, and I especially like to follow series with main characters such as Harry Bosch, Kay Scarpetta, and Jack Reacher, to name a few.  Every now and then I need a lighter read.  When that happens I somehow tend to reach for books that revolve around food.  I read light mysteries or love stories that happen in tea shops, bakeries, bed and breakfasts.  Often these books will include recipes, which is a plus for someone like me who likes to cook and bake.  Recently I read The City Baker's Guide to Country Living.  The setting was a bed and breakfast in Vermont and the main character was a baker who found herself transplanted from the hustle and bustle of Boston to a quiet New England town.  The B&B's claim to fame was an apple pie and winning the Countys Fair's blue ribbon was the prize. 

As you can imagine, I've made many apple pies.  It is one of my son's favorite pies. They aren't difficult; slice some apples, mix with sugar and spices, pour in a pie crust and bake. I was intrigued by the recipe in the book because it called for slightly pre-cooking the apples. If you've made an apple pie before, you know that oftentimes, as the apples cook down, the filling shrinks away from the top pie crust.  When you cut into the pie you have a large space between the top crust and the juicy apples. It's not very attractive! Pre-cooking the apples draws out some of the moisture in the apples so that there is less settling. I thought it was worth trying!

I piled the pie shell high with the partially cooked apples and it retained its height quite nicely. I think I will use this method often.  However, I thought this pie recipe could have used more spices, it wasn't as spicy as I like. That's an easy adjustment to make, especially as everyone's taste buds are different.

My Hubbers enjoyed his pie with a scoop of ice cream and his favorite topping, caramel sauce.

Blue Ribbon Apple Pie

Double crust pie dough (homemade or pre-made)

Filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch wedges (any baking apple, or mixture, can be used.  I used all Granny Smith, so added a little more sugar as they are tarter than most apples)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg white, for the crust bottom

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Make sure there is enough room for a tall pie, you may need to remove a rack.

In a large skillet, melt the butter.  When the butter is sizzling, toss in the apples and stir so they are coated in the butter.  Cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  If you do not have a pan large enough, you can do this in two batches.

Remove the apples from the pan with a slotted spoon (you do not want the liquid) and put them in a large bowl.  Toss the apples with the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

Brush the inside of the bottom crust with the beaten egg white.  Pile the sautéed apples into the crust then cover with the remaining dough disc. Trim and flute edges.  You can also lightly brush the top with an egg wash and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

Turn the oven down to 375 degrees.  Place the pan on a cookie sheet (I line mine with aluminum foil), and bake until the top crust is a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbly, about 50-60 minutes.

Let cool before serving.

Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia

Signs of fall are slowly appearing in my area of the country; summer plants are spent, all the fruit crops are done, the nuts are being harvested and football season has started.  We will still have some very warm days but I've put away our big pink flamingo pool float ( a sure sign that my pool is much too cold for me to be in!) and I'm moving forward to the next season. Before we know it, the winter holidays will be here. Time keeps marching on!

I love fall baking; all the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger scents that fill the kitchen are just tantalizing to me. I go from baking with summer fruits and berries to the more traditional autumn produce of apples and pears. This cake comes from Paula Deen and it's name intrigued me. I never could find out why it's called what it is. However, in researching the origins of the cake it seems that this cake, and others similar to it, are very common in the deep south. This California girl had never heard of it! What makes it unusual is the butter-buttermilk sauce that soaks into the cake after baking.  Trust me when I say this cake is very moist! It's also rich and sugary, and great with a hot cup of coffee or tea. It needs no frosting or glaze, is not the prettiest cake, but it makes a great addition to my fall baking repertoire.

Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia

Cake:
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups peeled and finely chopped apples
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans **

Sauce:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Generously grease a tube or bundt pan.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, oil, orange juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract; mix well.  Fold the apples, coconut, and pecans into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours.

Shortly before the cake is done, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, stir in the sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda, and bring to a good rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Boil for 1 minutes. Pour the sauce over the hot cake in the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven (I did this over a cookie sheet as there was spillage). Let stand 1 hour, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

**  Pecans are pricey in California and walnuts are more plentiful.  I have clients who give me walnuts each year so I substituted using them.

Slowly pouring the sauce onto the cake and letting it sit for an hour allows all the buttery goodness to permeate the cake.  The cake is very moist and stays moist after cutting.

 

 

 

Skillet Apple-Plum Cobbler

We have an espalier apple tree that grows along the fence next to our pool. It doesn't take up much room and provides us with 2-3 buckets of apples each year.  There are 6 limbs, each with a different variety of apple.  I have since forgotten what kind we have! It has taken me a while to adjust to being an apple "farmer".  To me, apples signify the start of fall.  When the apples started falling in July I thought I had a problem with my tree.  No, in our warm valley, they just ripen earlier!  My granddaughter and I picked apples and I've been dealing with them ever since!  

I'm just not in the mood to bake apple desserts yet, the smell of cinnamon is for fall, not summer! I did make some apple pie filling but still  have a large bowl of apples in the fridge. Every time I open the door I feel guilty knowing I should be doing something with them. In the meantime, I keep being gifted summer fruits (thank you all my gifters!) and was given a nice bag of plums. The same day this happened I received a free Family Circle magazine in the mail.  One of their recipes was for this apple-plum cobbler.  It was a divine inspiration moment, a way to use both fruits! It was easy to decide on dessert that night!

The plums really shine in this cobbler, it has a nice sweet-tart vibe to it. The addition of sour cream to the biscuit dough made for a very light and fluffy cobbler biscuit.  This will be my go-to cobbler biscuit recipe from now on.

Skillet Apple-Plum Cobbler

Fruit:
1 1/2 pounds apples, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds plums, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Biscuits:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Carefully combine all fruit ingredients.  Place in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet and bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk first five biscuit ingredients together.  Using pastry blender, or hands, add butter until clumps the size of peas are formed.  Stir in sour cream.  Form into 6 round biscuits.

Carefully remove skillet from oven and place biscuits on top.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.  Bake 20 minutes more, until biscuits are browned.

Apple Butter Pound Cake

This cake caught my eye when I saw it on the cover of Southern Lady magazine.  I thought it would be a perfect fall dessert and another use for all the apple butter I've been making. I've made two cakes now, though only one got served to anyone.  The first time I neglected to add the 2 cups of sugar. How I did that is still a mystery!  The second attempt was much more successful, I'm happy to say!

The cake has the texture of a traditional pound cake but the brown sugar in the batter makes it a little less un-traditional.  I loved the layer of pecans, apple butter and brown sugar! Oh, my, it is good!

Like many pound cake recipes, it is put into a cold oven.  The cake is dense so doesn't need a burst of hot air to make it rise.  The transition from a cold to warm oven also allows for the nice, crispy crust that pound cakes are known for.  

I thought the glaze recipe made enough for two cakes and was thinner than the magazine picture, even after I added more confectioners' sugar.  Next time I will halve the recipe and probably still increase the amount of sugar.

Using a stand mixer definitely makes the mixing process go easier as the sugar and butter mixture gets beat for quite a while. As I was babysitting this day, the 10 minute mixing time enabled me to step away for a few minutes and change a diaper!

My baking assistant!

My instincts were correct and it's a wonderful fall treat. Like all Bundt cakes, it stores and transports easily. This cake will make a great addition to the Thanksgiving dessert table!

It even looks pretty unglazed, with the apple butter swirl peeking through!

Apple Butter Pound Cake

1 cup apple butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Glaze (recipe follows)

Spray a 15-cup Bundt pan with baking spray with flour.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together apple butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and pecans.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, and baking powder.  Set aside.

In bowl of mixer, or a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium-high speed until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add remaining 1 cup brown sugar, sugar, and salt; beat at high speed for 10 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well combined.

Spoon one-third of batter into prepared pan.  Spoon half of apple butter mixture over batter in pan.  Top with another third of batter, remaining half of apple butter mixture, and the remaining batter. Using a knife, pull blade back and forth through batter to swirl the apple butter layers. Smooth top with an offset spatula.

Place in a cold oven.  Bake at 300 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack.  Drizzle with glaze.

Glaze (see comments above)

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved, approximately 3 minutes.  Remove from heat, and let cool for 10 minutes.  Whisk in confectioners' sugar.

I found this little gadget at Sur La Table; it's a combination whisk & sifter.  Works great for mixing up flour with other ingredients!

Cheddar, Apple and Pastrami Grilled Cheese

So far this fall, I've made two batches of apple butter. It's one of my favorite spreads.  This recipe hit my Facebook feed last week and I knew I had to make it.  I confess to never considering putting apple butter in a sandwich.  I've been officially enlightened, oh my goodness, it makes an amazing addition!

The grocery store I went to on the way home from work didn't have white cheddar so I used a white artisan cheese.  It didn't melt very well, but the sandwich was still good.  My Hubbers requested that I put this in the regular rotation; that's always a nice request and confirmation the recipe was a success!

Cheddar, Apple and Pastrami Grilled Cheese

3 tablespoons apple butter
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
Kosher salt
4 1/2-inch-thick slices sourdough bread
8 ounces aged white Cheddar, thinly sliced or coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
2 ounces thinly sliced pastrami
6 to 10 very thin slices of apple
Unsalted butter, softened

Combine the apple butter, mustard, honey, and a good pinch of kosher salt in a small bowl.  Spread evenly on two slices of bread and top with half the cheese and pastrami. Top that with a layer of sliced apple, overlapping the slices slightly, and the remaining cheese. Top with the other slices of bread to make two sandwiches.

Spread butter on outside of bread. Grill in warmed skillet or in panini press.

Is It Really Fall?

According to the calendar, fall has arrived. According to the weather, it's still summer! Yikes, it's been warm! The only evidence of fall I see is in the plants and flowers; the summer plants are fading, the morning glory is turning yellow, we had to pull up the sunflowers and we have harvested the pomegranates.

As it's been so un-fallish I just couldn't get into the normal fall decorating with pumpkins, gourds, and harvest colors. In a few weeks I'll get there but not yet! In the meantime, to celebrate the transition from summer to fall, I did a little decorating with an apple theme. Apples and fall go hand-in-hand.

For the mantle I made a burlap banner, incorporating a bright red apple. I decorated a small grape vine wreath with some greenery and apples. An antique bucket, with some wooden apples, carries out the theme.

 

The dining room table is anchored by an apple print table runner.

My wooden dough bowl holds an assortment of apples from our espalier tree.

I had this wreath, the little green orbs remind me of green apples, so that's the vibe I'm hoping it gives off when people enter our front door!

Pumpkins are arriving in the stores, the pumpkin patches are getting ready to open.  Soon I'll join in and decorate with the more traditional fall/harvest colors. For now, we're living with apples!

Dutch Apple Pie

I love fruit crisps and I love fruit pies.  A Dutch apple pie combines the best of both worlds; a pie crust filled with cinnamony (is that a word?) apples and topped with a crisp-type topping. Now what's not to love about that combination? 
 
My Hubbers recently returned home from a two-week bicycle trip up to Glacier National Park, Idaho, and the Oregon coast.  Besides a hug and a kiss, I thought it would be nice to welcome him home with a dessert. I finished harvesting the apple crop from our espalier tree so this apple pie was a natural choice. We had it for dessert, we had it for breakfast.  It's really quite delectable!

Dutch Apple Pie

Pie dough for one 9-inch pie (homemade or ready-made)
5 1/2 cups peeled, cored, and sliced apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out pie dough and fit into pie plate.

In a large bowl, mix sliced apples, lemon juice, both sugars, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

Arrange into crust.

For topping, in a medium bowl, with a pastry blender or fork, mix flour, both sugars, and butter until coarsely crumbled. 

Sprinkle evenly over apples.

Bake for 50 minutes, until topping is browned and apples are bubbling.

Our little espalier apple tree has been pretty prolific this year, we've gotten about three buckets of apples.  This is the last of them, soon to go into a batch of apple butter!

Apple Cinnamon Waffles

While racing in Sonoma last month we had time to venture out into the Napa Valley one afternoon for a little sightseeing, shopping, and dinner.  One of my purchases was a bottle of apple cider syrup. Coincidentally, the apples on our little espalier tree are ripening and we're picking a few daily. I modified my go-to waffle recipe to use some of the apples and the syrup.  Both were good on their own, but we all thought the combination of the syrup and cinnamon-enhanced waffles was too much cinnamon. Instead, we opted to use good old-fashioned maple syrup. I have other ideas for the apple cider syrup, so stay tuned!

It seems strange to be baking with apples and cinnamon when we're

still experiencing triple digit temperature days, but things ripen early in California! These waffles will be really good on a crisp fall morning; as they cook the smell of cinnamon drifts through the house. The smell of cinnamon baking always inspires thoughts of fall in me. We liked them with maple syrup, some may like a little whipped cream on top. You could even make them a dessert, adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of caramel sauce!

If you have a food processor, use it to shred the apples.  If not, an ordinary cheese grater will work! The apples add just a slight crunch to the waffle.

Apple Cinnamon Waffles

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 apples, shredded
3 tablespoons sugar

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks well, then add milk, melted butter, and apples.  Combine with flour mixture and mix well.  Beat the egg whites in a bowl until stiff.  Slowly add in sugar, beating constantly.  Carefully fold egg whites into batter.  Bake in hot waffle iron per manufacturer's instructions.

Apple Butter Bread

I make apple butter every fall (recipe here).  It's probably my favorite toast topping.  Like most jams and jellies, apple butter can also be used for baking and cooking. Today it goes in this tender and moist bread, with all the spicy flavors we come to expect in the fall.  It's wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee.

I used a simple confectioners' sugar glaze for this, adding some cinnamon for more spice.  Apple cider or juice can also be substituted for the milk to get more apple flavor.

Apple Butter Bread

Makes 1 9x5-inch loaf

For the bread:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon apple pie spice (see note below)
3/4 cup apple butter
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, if desired

For the glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom and sides of loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and apple pie spice; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the apple butter, brown sugar, milk, oil vanilla and eggs (one at a time). Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and milk.  The mixture should be somewhat thick but pourable.  Slowly add more milk, if needed. Pour the glaze over the top of the loaf and let it drip down the sides.  Let the glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

Recipe notes: To substitute for the apple pie spice use 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon allspice.  Or make homemade version (recipe here).

Apple (Sugar Cookies) Harvest

The last of the apples have been harvested for the year, alas some are wormy! Off to my step-daughter they go for a morning coffee treat.  She is a Speech Therapist for a local school district.  Apples and school just go together! My two oldest granddaughters (her daughters) go to school there so I know they will get this treat from Nana, too.

 

This cookie cutter has been calling my name ever since I bought it a few months ago. I get most of my cookie cutters from here.  They are hand-made and they have so many designs to choose from.  (Have I mentioned my cookie cutter stash is getting out-of-control and I need to do some organizing?)

Apple Pie Bars

I woke up early Sunday, couldn't get back to sleep, so got up and moving. The garden was calling me so I went out and cleared out the summer plants, weeded and worked up the dirt. I tore out the sunflowers, saving the flower heads to dry for the birds. It was still cool and quiet out, Harley and the birds were my only company. It was very therapeutic. My yard is now ready for fall planting. It was a productive morning and I'm a week ahead of my self-imposed schedule!

While out in the yard I picked the last of our apples from the espalier tree. Even though it's 100 degrees today, I felt like baking an apple pie. My Hubby arrived home today after being away for nine days. I figure welcoming him home with a sweet treat will go a long way in getting some help with my gardening to-do's next weekend!

I love pie, any kind. But it's only two of us at home now, eating a whole pie isn't very good for us, unfortunately. I like to share my baked goods but pies are hard to share. Today I made apple pie bars. Basically, it's a pie, baked in a baking pan that can be cut into bars, easy to pass around, easy to transport, easily packed up for a picnic or office lunch.

One of the things I love most about fall is the smell of fall baking. Cinnamon, nutmeg, apples, pears, pumpkin, they fill the air with a very enticing aroma. This morning I had the air conditioning going full-blast while this pie was baking.  I had to pretend it was fall. Soon I'll be eating apple pie with a cup of coffee or tea, today it was with an iced tea!

Apple Pie Bars

Pastry for 2-crust 10" pie

5 cups apples, peeled cored and diced
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place diced apples in a large mixing bowl. Add flour, sugars and spice.  Stir until evenly coated.

Divide pie dough crust into two equal pieces.  Roll first portion into an approximate 13x9-inch rectangle.  Roll dough onto rolling pin and transfer to 13x9-inch baking dish. Unroll and arrange dough in pan, cutting to fit, if necessary.

Carefully pour apples over dough. 

Roll out the second piece of dough and transfer to baking dish, crimping edges to seal. 

Cut vents in top of crust.  Brush crust with water and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Let cool about 30 minutes before cutting into squares.  If desired, drizzle with glaze.

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.  Thin with additional milk if necessary and drizzle over bars.

**I keep a homemade apple spice mixture in my pantry. The recipe is here.  If you don't have apple pie spice, you can use 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

Poor Man's Fruitcake

I come from a long line of Okies.  Nothing derogatory about that, just facts. Most of my ancestors are from Oklahoma, they struggled through and survived the Great Depression. As a result, they learned how to be thrifty and industrious, especially when it came to food. They grew their own fruits and vegetables, canned them, slaughtered livestock, saved and re-purposed everything.  They had no choice, had to do that to survive and by doing so, they acquired many good skills and traits that inadvertently passed down to the younger generations.

Besides my parents, the most influential Okie in my life was my Grandma McGee. She saved all her leftover food.  I used to laugh when I'd open her refrigerator because there would be all kinds of plastic containers filled with a spoonful or two of something. She didn't waste them, they became lunch the next day. Her pantry was full of canned goods, her freezer full of meats and other products that she stocked up on when on sale. If she was given a bag or box of fruit she would drop everything and get out the canning equipment, nothing must be wasted! She had a drawer full of leftover wrapping paper, neatly folded to be used again. Scraps of material became quilts. Buttons from worn-out clothes were taken off and saved in her button jar and would be seen on another article of clothing in the future.

She's been on my mind a lot these last few weeks.  We have an espalier apple tree, it is grafted with six different varieties of apples.  I'm not a farmer and it's hard for this accountant to tell when apples are ready for harvest.  My Hubbers and I noticed a few on the ground, so we started picking.  Soon we had over two dozen apples. I didn't feel like baking anything at the time and knew we wouldn't eat that many apples before they went bad. I could hear Grandma telling me not to waste anything.  So I went in and made applesauce, just the way she taught me. There is no recipe for this, it's more a method.  Peel, core and slice apples and put in large pan, add 1/4 cup water to keep the apples from sticking to the pan, adding more if needed.  Cook, stirring often, until soft.  Add sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg, to taste (I usually add during the cooking process and adjust afterwards).  I like my applesauce lumpy.  A food processor or immersion blender can be used to make smoother applesauce.

It helps to have an apple peeler and assistant when working with a lot of apples! Thank you, Hubbers!

Just put the apples in a pan and cook until you get a soft consistency.

Homemade applesauce is so much better than store-bought!

I ended up with a pretty good-sized bowl of applesauce.  After about a week of eating it, I was tired of it.  I really should have canned some of it to begin with but was too lazy that day! Then I thought of Grandma again.  She made a loaf cake using applesauce that she called Poor Man's Fruitcake.  I have no idea where the name came from but I've always loved it. It recalls my Okie roots, poor people can have fruitcake, too (thankfully, this doesn't taste like traditional Christmas-time fruitcake)! I baked mine in a loaf pan, I seem to recall Grandma would sometimes bake hers in a tube pan.  Store-bought applesauce can be used and the seasonings can be adjusted to taste.  My applesauce had cinnamon in it and I added more in the cake batter, making for a very dark cake. I took it to the office today and had some with my morning tea, shared some with a client. It was the perfect mid-morning treat!

Grandma would've been proud of my thriftiness with these apples, not one was wasted! We still have more apples on the tree, I will be making and canning applesauce soon!

Poor Man's Fruitcake

One stick butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups applesauce
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan.

Blend together butter and sugar until creamy.  Add 2 cups applesauce and mix until blended. Add flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Mix until just blended. Stir in raisins and walnuts.

Pour into loaf pan.  Bake for 45-55 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, remove from pan and finish cooling.