Thanksgiving Preview: Caramel Apple Cake

As of right now, I have a pretty set menu of baked goods for Thursday. Pumpkin cheesecake is a must, Nutella brownies, pumpkin oats bars (per request), and the newcomer to the group: Caramel Apple Cake.

Found on the King Arthur Flour website, it sounded great. But, just in case, I wanted to do a test-run. After all, some new recipes need... tweaking. I did keep in mind some of the comments that were left: lower temperature, less baking time, maybe pushing some apples inside the cake instead of just on top.

My mom couldn't stop raving about it. With a denser cake base, it's not overly sweet. Dave said it'd be a good after-dinner, with-coffee sort of treat. My dad just said it was really good and wondered how much would be left for tomorrow. :D I'm slowly getting him to actually like food. (He's one of those "eats because he has to" kind of guys. I obviously took after the Portuguese side that is my mom's)

So, yep, this will be on the table on Thursday. I still need to work out exactly what's getting baked when (I figure the kitchen will be mine on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, leaving it to my mom and Dave on Thursday), so hopefully everything will work out well. :)



Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, softened
½ tsp. cinnamon
1-3/4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
½ cup sour cream

2 large apples, peeled, cut into wedges
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Homemade caramel or the jarred variety

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9-inch round cakepan.

Beat sugar, butter, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs, beating until incorporated completely. Alternately add flour and sour cream. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Toss apple wedges with sugar and vanilla, coating completely. Press apples into and on top of the batter.

Bake at 325F for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about an hour before transfering to a wire rack. Spoon caramel on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Mascarpone Pie

Quiz time!

What do you do when handed an Oreo cookie crust?

A. Run away screaming obscenities about the blasphemy of pre-made crusts.
B. Place it on your head and start tap dancing.
C. Make the best of it, eat it, but still complain about the sweetness and taste of the crust.

While the first two sound fun (and possibly believable lol), I decided to go with option C. That old adage about the mouth of a gift horse, after all.

After some researching, I remember the mascarpone cream filling that I made for some tartlets back in the summer. Somewhere along the way, the idea of using chocolate in it got involved, and, as they say, the rest is history.

The texture wasn't the light and fluffiness that was the non-chocolate version, but it was definitely well-received. Maybe a little bit less sugar would have been better; Dave and I found it to be sweet. My mom, ever the chocoholic, loved it, and my dad happily ate the remaining two pieces after lunch the next day. :)



Ingredients:
Chocolate pie crust (pre-made or your own)
8 oz. mascarpone, softened
1/3 cup heavy cream
¼ cup sugar
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions:
Beat mascarpone, cream, and sugar until stiff peaks are held. Add chocolate, beating until completely combined. Spread into crust. Top with cream, fruit, or whatever else you may desire. ;)

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookie Bars

This was filed under the "baking endeavors to re-do" folder. Which basically consists of a bunch of stuff I made four to five years ago that I'd like to give another try, to see if it's any different or if I could make any improvements. The only thing I did different this time around with these is that I used the (remaining) butterscotch chips, since somehow there were no peanut butter ones to be found. Hmph.

Anyways, these are super-simple and take no time to whip together. I do prefer it with the peanut butter, though. The butterscotch makes them very sweet, so perhaps lessen the sugar a little bit? My dad's a big fan, not surprising; he's already blamed the dog for some of them disappearing. LOL And Penny just sits up, looks around confusedly, then lays back down on the couch. It's tough being her. Really. ;)



Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups peanut butter morsels

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 15x10-inch jelly-roll pan.

Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until blended; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Spread into prepared jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350F for 18-22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Experimental Baking

The other day at work, we discovered one of those limited edition bodywashes that smelled EXACTLY like butterscotch. Which naturally led me to "Ooh! I want to make butterscotch cupcakes!"

Did you know that there aren't really many recipes for that? The only one I found used a cake mix and melted butterscotch chips.

So what did I do? A yellow cupcake that I've used as a base many a time and added the melted chips. And it came out... wonky. The top is far sweeter, and far crunchier, than the rest of thecake. And it's all rather crumbly.

Therefore, I pose this question before you: Have you a GOOD butterscotch cupcake recipe? And would you be so inclined to share it with me? :D

Pear Cake

This weekend threw my normal Saturday morning routine out of whack.

Yep, Dave had the day off. He's been doing six days a week for, well, a while, and I had grown very accustomed to my way of doing things on the Saturday AM: wake up around 9, bake two different things, do some laundry - all done before noon. But, as much as I love the guy, my morning all kinds of thrown off. (Love you, honey!) ;)

So I only made one thing yesterday morning, and it never even got photographed. Hmph. On one hand, that's a good thing, but at the same time... again, hmph.

A while back, when in CA still, my best friend Johanna told me that while I don't like pears, that I might enjoy asian pears. I always kept that in mind, just never acted on it. So when they were spotted at Whole Foods, it was obviously meant to be. And it turns out, Jo was right. I do like the asian pears. :)

The recipe is originally from Culinate, I switched out the apples in their cake for my pears. And what with the lack of time, no frosting, as yummy as it sounded. The cake came out well. Very fruity, and the pears towards the top get caramelized and yummy. :)

Ingredients:
2⅓ cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ginger
⅛ tsp. ground cloves
⅛ tsp. nutmeg
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
3 cups pears (about 2 large apples), peeled and finely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 9x13-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground spices; set aside.

In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix for another minute, until the eggs are blended into the butter and sugar. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated. The batter will be very thick and stiff. Fold in the pears and stir just enough to evenly distribute the apples and nuts through the batter. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake at 325F for 40-50 minutes. When the top of the cake is firm and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool on a wire rack.

Oatmeal Toffee Bars

Before I get into reading another book (have I mentioned that I'm as much of an avid reader as I am a baker? So far, I've read 114 books this year alone), I'm going to post about the other bars I made yesterday.

Oh, as a quick aside, the pumpkin you saw in the previous picture and the one you'll see with these bars, his name is George. And George went through Pumpkin Puberty tonight, with Dave guiding him through....



Isn't he cute? I'm very proud of both of them. ;)

Alright. Onto the food. It was a Hershey weekend, as this came up while searching for brownies. Dave loves the Heath Toffee Bits and Chocolate, so I thought he'd enjoy these. At this point, I don't seem to recall anything particular in the making of them. LOL (It's been a long day) Oh! I did a half-batch, that's what I changed! Oh, goodness. Anyways, my mom really likes them. They're very soft, and using both the toffee and the chocolate, it gives it a little bit more sweetness. I'd make 'em again, I think. :)



Ingredients:
3/4 cups flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups oats
4 oz. Heath Bits with Chocolate, divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch baking pan.

Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended. Set aside a handful of the Heath bits. Stir remaining toffee bits and oats into batter (batter will be stiff). Spread batter into prepared pan; sprinkle reserved toffee bits over surface.

Bake at 350F for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 36 bars.

Cream Cheese Brownies

For some unknown reason, I had the whole weekend off from work. The next paycheck won't be so great without that time-and-a-half, but I think it was well worth the extra sleep-time and less stress and insanity.

What have I done this weekend? Umm.. baked. Read a book (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society); you should read it, it was very good.) Dave and I went to an indoor miniature golf place (I lost, but that's nothing new.) Did some laundry in there, too. That's about it. And now I'm ready for bed and it isn't even 8pm yet. Yikes.

This recipe wasn't what I had in mind on Thursday afternoon, when I usually start thinking about what I'll be making on Saturday. But it worked. It's from the Hershey website, and I used the exact recipe, minus the nuts and minus the frosting. I'm not a brownies-with-frosting kind of girl. *shrug* Nothing against those who are, it's just not my thing.

Anyways, the recipe comes together super easy and the batter is delicious. I could have easily overdosed on it. And the after-baking taste is just as good. They've been out of the oven and cooled for, oh, maybe 30 hours, and there's not even half a pan left. My dad insisted that the dog must be sneaking in there when no one's looking. :)



Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until well blended. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes, or just until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes about 36 brownies.

SHF: Brown Sugar Shortbread

This is one of my favorite recipes, and one of the earliest ones I've made since (re?)discovering my love of baking about five years ago. And when I saw that this next Sugar High Friday, hosted by Dessert First, had a theme of spices, this quickly came to mind. (That sentence seems...awkward, doesn't it? LOL) Actually, it was this or an apple-cinnamon cheesecake, but we're lacking in fridge-room at the moment, so no cheesecake this week.

Like many shortbread recipes, it comes together in no time. I don't measure how much I put in for spices, so each time I make it, it comes out a bit different. It's got a little bit of crunch to it, and, oh, the kitchen smells so yummy after about 20 minutes in the oven.

Now if I could just get that oven warmth into the den right now. Even in flannel pj pants and a sweater, I'm still freezing. Do you think I'll be able to get away with calling work and telling them I'm hibernating? LOL



Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Spray 9-inch fluted tart pan or 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray.

Beat the butter and brown sugar together in large bowl until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour, salt, and spices. Beat on low speed until dough just comes together. Do not overmix. Spread dough into prepared pan, pressing dough to the edges.

Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of dough.

Bake at 325F for about 50 minutes, until firm on edges but still soft in the center. Let cool completely on a wire rack, then cut into wedges or squares.

Double Decker Peanut Butter M&M Bars

That's a mouthful, isn't it?

Yesterday's baking did not go as planned. The can of pumpkin mysteriously disappeared, with no note whatsoever. You'd think if it was kidnapped, the fiends would leave a ransom note, right? And if he ran away, didn't I raise him better than to leave without a note? Hmph. Watch, he'll come back just after Christmas.

Anyways, thankfully I discovered that before putting together the dry ingredients for my originally planned recipe. I do so hate being wasteful. Thus began my search for something else, when my eyes fell upon Dave's half-full bag of peanut butter M&M's. (He had another full bag still, so it wasn't considered blasphemy for baking with them. He's quite the fan) Surprisingly, my brain went back to a post that I saw on Cooking Madness last week. Voila! :)

I think my only complaint with the recipe is how sticky the dough is. I wound up greasing my hands with Pam spray just to spread the dough into the pan. Other than that, no complaints. And holy moly, Dave's eating something that I made. Lately it's been hit-or-miss with him, so I'm happy. I like the combination of the regular cookie dough and the chocolate, and the general cheeriness that the M&M's give it. I'm easily amused, can you tell? (And also braindead for work today lol)



Ingredients:
2½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2½ tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup Peanut Butter M&M's

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9-inch dish (or line with foil).

Whisk together 2¼ cups flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugars, until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture. Divide dough in half.

Blend cocoa and melted butter in a small bowl, then stir into half the dough. Spread cocoa dough onto bottom of pan.

For remainder of dough, stir in ¼ cup flour and ½ cup chocolate chips; spread over cocoa dough. Sprinkle M&M's over the top.

Bake at 350F for 32-38 minutes, or until edges begin to pull away from the sides. Let cool on wire rack before cutting into bars. Makes 24-32 bars (depending on how they're cut)

Vacation!

In about an hour or so, we'll be heading out to the airport. Dave's cousin is getting married this weekend, so we're going to California for four days. Would like it to have been more, but he couldn't get any more time off from work. But hey, we'll have fun. Wedding, visiting with friends, food that I can't get on this coast - I'm so excited.

That being said, obviously I won't be baking this weekend. But I've already got ideas swirling for when I get back. :)

Happy baking (and eating), everyone! :)