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Worlds Best Apple Spice Cake With Creamy Vanilla Butter Sauce

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Worlds Best Apple Spice Cake With Creamy Vanilla Butter Sauce

Worlds Best Apple Spice Cake With Creamy Vanilla Butter Sauce



Tomorrow night, when Downton Abbey comes on, I, along with half the United States, will be parked in front of my TV watching it. The difference is, that I will be doing so with a outrageously huge slab small piece of this cake and a cup of tea. Mrs. Patmore would be proud of this one and Lord Crawley, for all of his snobbishness, would love it. Mary would however, turn her nose up at it’s simplicity because…well, because she’s Mary.

Of course, I will have to make another one of these cakes to be able to enjoy that outrageously huge slab, erhmmm, dainty little slice because this one is about gone already.

And, yes, I just used the words “worlds best”. Would I use those words if I didn’t mean it? You all know that I like simple desserts; I’ve made more things like this than I have fancy ones. This is one of those desserts that you look at and think, “ehhh, it looks pretty boring.” Then you give it a taste. And you’re blown away. This cake is wonderful for all its simplicity. I had it fresh from the oven and it was great…room temp and it was great, room temp with the sauce and it was great and then chilled and it was great. Get the feeling I like this one? :-p

I used a mix of tart and sweet apples in this cake. I like to mix it up when I am using apples in a dessert like this. Also, feel free to cut down on the amount of spice a bit if you’d prefer. I like things to be fairly heavily spiced, but I know not everyone shares my quirks. This is beyond easy to throw together. The most time consuming part is chopping the apples. After that, wham bam, thank you apples and it’s mixed.  The sauce doesn’t take but a few minutes too and it’s so worth it. It just puts this cake over the top. Add a bit of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if you’re trying to totally put this into the category of decadent.

You know the drill… 🙂

Mrs. Cupcake…who is going to get the last slice of cake before the kids do

Worlds Best Apple Spice Cake With Creamy Vanilla Butter Sauce

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups peeled, chopped apples
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted in a 350 oven until lightly browned
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
  • Creamy Sauce-
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch square pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat until thick, creamy looking and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  3. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat just until combined.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and spices. Add to the butter mixture and beat until well blended, scraping bowl once to get all the mixture in there.
  5. Pour in the apples, cranberries or raisins and walnuts and stir well to combine. Make sure the apples are well coated. This will look “apple heavy”, but trust me, it works out.
  6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for about 40 to 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack for about ten minutes. Serve warm with the sauce. or cool with the sauce…or warm or cool with no sauce 😛
  7. Creamy Vanilla Sauce-
  8. In a small pot, combine the butter, cream and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Simmer for about ten minutes, until it has started to thicken somewhat. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla.

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Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding With A Cream Cheese Glaze

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Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding With A Cream Cheese Glaze

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding With A Cream Cheese Glaze



I already mentioned that I am still deep into comfort food, even though the holidays are past. Since I am too damn old to wear a bikini ever again without breaking many state and federal laws prohibiting harassment and causing personal trauma to innocents, I have nothing pulling me towards getting in shape for bikini season. Our pool on our land is secluded enough that I can go out there in a tank top and shorts and not have anyone but the cats laughing at me. So fat and relatively happy I will stay. At fifty I’ve earned the right 😛 or at least that is what I tell myself as I continue to make high calorie, fattening foods.

I love cinnamon rolls. What’s not to love, right? Warm, yeasty pastry, gooey filling and a sweet glaze. Darn… now I want cinnamon rolls. The problem is that 1) I’m lazy and 2) the closest  place to us that sells them is about 35 minutes away, unless I want to get the tubes (ummmm, no) or the bakery section of the store kind, which I will sometimes, but they are always a disappointment. So what do I do at times like this, when I am in the throes of laziness and it’s too cold to venture out of the house? I make some cinnamon roll bread pudding.

Now, you could make these with Kings Hawaiian Bread, which is my usual go to for sweet bread puddings, or you could use cinnamon bread or you could even go so far as to use actual cinnamon rolls with this. But, I can’t do that because even I have to draw the calorie line SOMEWHERE not to mention there’s that whole point above about lazy…

So I used croissants. Yeah, yeah, I know… not much better than the cinnamon rolls themselves, but let me keep deluding myself. It makes me happy and a happy Janet is a baking Janet, right? This a yummy bread pudding and quick to throw together, though it does have to bake for a bit. But with this you have a creamy custard flavored base mixed with flaky croissants, then baked and covered in a sweet creamy cream cheese glaze, a la the frosting on the cinnamon roll. Just make sure to not over bake. It will still taste good, but as it gets cold in the fridge, the texture suffers. I was using two different sizes of ramekins because that’s all I had and the smaller ones were too firm my taste once chilled, not creamy. This makes 6 8 ounce ramekins, so cut it in half if, as I always say, you’re not feeding an army or teenage boys.

You know the drill… 🙂

Mrs. Cupcake- who has lovely cinnamon scented breath now 😛

Cinnamon Roll  Bread Pudding With A Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 4 regular sized croissants,  broken into chunks and set aside
  • 1 8 ounce package of softened cream cheese, divided
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 1/4 cups heavy cream or half and half
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
  • boiling water
  1. In a large bowl, beat together 4 ounces of the softened cream cheese and the sugars until creamy. Add the eggs, cinnamon and nutmeg and beat well.  Whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla extract, then the melted butter
  2. Dump the croissant chunks on top and press them down into the custard to make sure all the pieces get nice and moist. Let the whole mix sit for about 15 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 325 while waiting. Grease 6 8 ounce ramekins (or you could use a greased baking dish, preferably glass as bread pudding tend to take on a metal taste from regular pans) with butter. Place the greased ramekins inside of a large baking dish.
  4. Stir the pudding mixture, then evenly divide it between the waiting ramekins. Place the pan in the oven near the center, then carefully pour boiling water into the pan around the puddings until it is about a third of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Be careful not to splash into the ramekins themselves.
  5. Bake at 325 until the puddings are just barely set. A butter knife inserted in the center and wiggled should show a nice moist center, but not a bunch of liquid coming up around the knife. Do NOT over bake.
  6. Carefully remove the pan from the oven then remove the ramekins from the pan and set on the counter to cool.
  7. Make the glaze- in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, the remaining cream cheese, the teaspoon of vanilla extract and the lemon zest, if using. Beat at medium speed with a hand mixer until the mixture is creamy. Add in the cream, a little at a time, until you get a glaze the consistency you prefer.  It may take more or less than what I have written.
  8. When the puddings are room temp, you can either chill them from if you like them cold, as I do. or glaze them once they hit room temp. Either way, just drizzle or spoon the glaze on top when ready to serve. Sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon and enjoy.

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Eggnog Magic Cake

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Eggnog Magic Cake

Eggnog Magic Cake




I love eggnog. There; I said it. “I’m Janet and I’m an eggnogaholic”. And I have no plans to seek help. I’m also a fruitcakeaholic , which, when seen eating huge chunks of it and yes, actually enjoying the chunks of candied peel and neon red things which used to be cherries, has been known to make dogs pee themselves and small children scream in terror.
But, back to eggnog. I love it. I tend to go through about 3 half gallon containers by myself during the Christmas season. I snatch one up when I first see it near Halloween and make sure to keep my supply around through January so I have a constant fix. But up until a couple of years ago, I had never cooked with it. I was too busy hoarding my supply… hiring bodyguards, chaining Dobermans to the fridge, setting up motion sensors to catch my sons in the act of swiping my eggnog, to take the time to cook with it.

Hey.. wake up and.work with me here. I can’t be funny ALL the time! Ok, I’ll rephrase… I can’t be mildly humorous, even if only to myself, all the time. I’m bound to have off days.

I got the idea for this cake from my other magic cake, the Snickerdoodle Magic Cake . It occurred to me that store bought eggnog, that sweet, overly thick, utterly delightful product, would make a wonderful magic cake. What, some of you are asking, is a “Magic Cake”? No, it’s not something conjured up by Houdini. It’s called magic because you take a very thin cake batter, bake it and it “magically” separates into three distinct layers, a top and bottom that are cakey and a middle custardy layer. Anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time knows that one of my major weaknesses isn’t so much for sweet, but for creamy. Flan, custards, puddings, savory cream sauces, you name it, they bring me to my knees. So magic cakes are a natural go to for me…and my hips…and my thighs…and my butt. Luckily, my husband likes my tush, so it’s all good.

You know the drill… 🙂

Love you guys!

Mrs. Cupcake Of The Hefty Butt

Eggnog Magic Cake

    • 4 eggs, separated
    • 3/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 1/2 teaspoon rum flavoring (optional)
    • 3/4 cup sugar, divided
    • 2 cups dairy eggnog (store bought is preferable in this case over homemade), lightly warmed
    • 3/4 cup flour, whisked together with 1  teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
    • 1/4 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg for dusting the top of the cake
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8×8 baking pan with foil and lightly grease the foil.
  2. In a small bowl, at high speed, beat the egg whites with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the cream of tarter until stiff peaks form, about five minutes. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, at high speed, beat together the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until pale yellow and creamy looking.
  4. Mix in the flour mixture. Now, use a whisk to slowly whisk in the warm eggnog, then mix in the butter and finally, fold in the egg whites.
  5. Pour this into the prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees until the top is a nice light golden brown and the top is firm but still jiggles some when shaken, about 30 to 45 minutes.
  6. Let cool in the pan until completely cooled or refrigerate, then carefully use the foil to lift the whole thing out onto a board to cut into serving sized pieces. Dust with the powdered sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture. Serve.

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Peppermint Bark Flourless Chocolate Cake

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Peppermint Bark Flourless Chocolate Cake


As I was perusing… I love the word perusing… I also love the words Beijing, Machu Picchu, Monkey and Pretoria.  What? Why are you looking at me that way? I like words. I’m a blogger. It stands to reason that words would make me happy. They’re my life, man! My livelihood! My reason for living!

Sorry. I’m done now.

Erhmmm, as I was perusing the blog the other day, I noticed that it had been 12, I’ll type that again as a word…(I like words. have I mentioned that?) TWELVE, posts since I had done anything chocolate. And even then, it wasn’t pure chocolate. It was cookies that merely involved chocolate chips. Not that that’s a bad thing. But it’s not the type of chocolate that makes one swoon. It’s not the type of chocolate that leaves you gasping for breath and thinking that you never want to eat chocolate again. Or for at least an hour. It’s not the type of chocolate that has you planning secret hideaways into the closet, leaving your six year old naked, shivering and waiting for his bath as you whisper sweet nothings to the chocolate.

This isn’t just me, is it?

Sorry. I’m done now. Maybe.

This is pure chocolate overload… pure chocolate nirvana…pure chocolate…

Sorry.

This is yummy. I have made a flourless chocolate cake before here on the blog and I won’t tell you that this is miles away from that one in preparation and baking. This one is, however, gussied up for Christmas. It looks like a huge round of peppermint bark. And rather tastes like it too. It’s dense, fudgy, outrageously rich and decadent (this uses a pound each of chocolate and butter, after all) and totally over the top delicious. You can’t eat but a sliver of this at a time (closet hideaways notwithstanding) so it goes a long way, making it perfect for a party. Make this at Christmas and Santa will bring you diamond rings, houses, BMW’s, your own pool boy named Juan. Ok, maybe not.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Love you!

Mrs. Cupcake

Peppermint Bark Flourless Chocolate Cake

  • 16 ounces good quality semi sweet or dark (not too dark or the cake will be bitter) chocolate, chopped
  • 1 pound unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 9 eggs (yes, nine)
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy (candy canes work great)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 inch springform pan (you can get this size at Wal mart) and set the pan on a baking sheet. This is in case of any leakage.
  2. In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate, butter, sugar, salt and cream. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, to melt the chocolate and butter. Make sure to stir it all up and get this nice and smooth.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and peppermint extract. Slowly whisk in half of the chocolate mixture. Again, slow is the key so you don’t scramble the eggs. You want to slowly temper them. Return the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture, stirring to combine.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 2 hours, then refrigerate it for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. When the cake comes out of the oven, it will look puffy, then will fall and sink. This is what it’s supposed to do, so don’t panic and think you did something wrong.
  5. In a small bowl, combine the white chocolate and cream. Microwave for 35 seconds on high, then stir. It should be melted. If not. put it back in for about 5 seconds. Drizzle the white chocolate over the cake, then sprinkle with the crushed peppermint.
  6. Cut into thin slices to serve. It’s easiest cut with a knife run under hot water, then wiped dry.

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Cranberry Apple Cake

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Cranberry Apple Cake

Cranberry Apple Cake



I have always loved cranberries in anything. When I was a kid, my mom always got the canned cranberry sauce during the holidays. You know the kind…. it slithers out of the can with a juicy plopping noise and has ridges on it from the can. I loved it and would eat all of it when no one was looking (sorry, Steve) Know what? I still love it. But even more than that, I love other cranberry filled treats. Every year, I make homemade cranberry sauce (as well as having the plopping canned kind). I love to spice it up with orange zest and spices and use brown sugar instead of (or in conjunction with) white sugar. All of that adds so much depth to the sauce. So, years back, when I saw a recipe for Ina Gartens Easy Cranberry Apple Cake; a saucy fruit bottom covered by a dense cake, in a November issue of “Womans World” (I admit to a strange liking for that magazine even still), I cut that page out and knew I would make it someday.Well, it took me about 6 years or so, but I have finally made it. And, oh…..my…gosh…. I am totally in love!

You all know I don’t rhapsodize over foods that often. I’ll say, “this was wonderful” or even “this was amazing”, but then I leave it at that. But not this time.. This time I am telling you that you have got to make this cake. It looks so simple when you read the recipe and when you see the finished cake…. just a homey little cake. But once you try it, if you have any love for cranberries, you will find yourself planning out how to store many extra bags of cranberries this season so you can continue to have this year round. It is sooooo good! I’ll be making this for Thanksgiving, for Christmas, for groundhog day, for Herbert Hoovers birthday, when the groundhog sees his shadow (or when he doesn’t)  I changed this enough to make it more to my families liking. Not enough to warrant saying it’s no longer Inas recipe, but as uppity as it may sound to some, I honestly feel that what I did only made this better. The original recipe only called for cinnamon (and a fairly scant amount) in the fruit part. I added extra cinnamon, extra orange zest, some cloves and used dark brown sugar. I also used about 1/2 cup more of chopped apples. The cake part was also fairly plain, not that that’s a bad thing. But I added some extra cinnamon to it as well as some orange oil (you could use orange zest if you don’t have orange oil) and extra vanilla and that was enough to make it go from good to “yum!”. The cake is unleavened, so it’s dense like a pound cake. Ina always calls for extra large eggs, which I never have, so when I use one of her baking recipes, I sub in an extra yolk for every two extra large eggs. The sweet, moist cake combined with the sweet tart fruit is amazing. Throw some lightly sweetened whipped cream on it and it takes it totally over the top.

You know the drill…. but I really stress it this time! GIT TO COOKIN’!

Cranberry Apple Cake

  • 1 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped tart apple (it called for peeled, I didn’t bother peeling.)
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 eggs, room temp
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled somewhat
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange oil (or 1 tablespoon orange zest)
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup flour combined with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a ten inch pie plate, if, like me, you don’t have that, use a DEEP 9 inch cake pan. Not the typical shallow kind but one at least 1 inch deep. Wilton makes them for a good price. You could also probably sub a 13×9 pan, but watch your bake time.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the cranberries, apples, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice,  cinnamon and cloves. Let sit while you make the batter.
  3. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer on medium, beat the eggs for two minutes. Add in the sugar, butter, vanilla, orange oil (or zest), and sour cream. Beat just until combined.
  4. On low speed, add in the flour mixture. Beat just until combined.
  5. Pour the fruit mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the top, then pour the batter over the top of the fruit. Smooth again.
  6. Bake at 325 for 55 to 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and the fruit is bubbly at the edges. Serve warm or at room temp. Then plan on making another. And another.

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Brown Butter Banana Cupcakes With Banana Frosting

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Brown Butter Banana Cupcakes With Banana Frosting

Brown Butter Banana Cupcakes With Banana Frosting

What is it with kids and fruit? There are times I simply can’t keep it in the house for more than 30 seconds because they are inhaling it practically before I can get it unpacked from the car and then other times it just sits there. Of course, those days when there is no fruit in the house, suddenly everyone wants it. Then the days when I have a ton of something like bananas around because they were griping that there weren’t any, that’s when no one eats them and I end up with 382 over ripe bananas on the counter. What does that lead to? A fruit fly party. They set up tents on my counters near the bananas and late at night I’m kept awake by teeny voices singing “Kum Ba Yah” and  the flicker of a little campfire. So I then set up vinegar swimming pools for them to lure them to their tangy deaths. But I still have 382 bananas to use up that now no one will touch because, “Ewww, they’re too ripe! I don’t like them like this!”

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all a ploy. They do it on purpose to get me to buy bananas that will get too ripe to eat just so that I have to cook with them. And there is only so much banana bread one can eat. Well, unless you’re my husband who would eat it 5 times a day for like 8 weeks before complaining. So one is left trying to figure out what to do with them. I don’t have a blender since mine was broken by an over zealous teen, so that leaves out banana shakes. That’s probably a good thing though because I do so love banana shakes and would over indulge if left to my own devices.

So I made cupcakes. I searched the web for a good recipe but just wasn’t liking anything I found. So this is an amalgamation of a handful of recipes… call it the Frankensteins Monster of banana cupcakes, minus the electrical wires.

These are fairly dense, which is what I was looking for. Call me strange but I like a heavier cake, reminiscent of a pound cake, at times. Not all cakes need to be all light and fluffy. This is fairly sweet with a heavy banana taste and are quite moist. They are great with or without the frosting. I actually only frosted about half and we ate the rest of them plain.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Brown Butter Banana Cupcakes With Banana Frosting

  • Cake-
  • 1 cup of mashed ripe bananas
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, browned and cooled*
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon banana flavoring (sold by the vanilla)
  • 2 cups flour whisked together with
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda and
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Banana Frosting-
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/2 cup cream cheese, room temp
  • 1 large ripe banana, mashed with 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
  • 3 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar (will vary)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons banana flavoring
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 16 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.
  2. In a large bowl, on medium speed, beat together the sugars and browned butter until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Don’t skimp on the beating.
  3. Turn the mixer to low and beat in the bananas, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream and extracts
  4. Stir in the flour/baking soda/salt mixture just until combined.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the 16 prepared cups
  6. Bake at 350 for 19 to 21 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  7. Let cool in the pan for about a minute then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
  8. Frost with banana frosting.
  9. Banana Frosting-
  10. In medium bowl, combine the butter, cream cheese, mashed banana and the extracts. Beat well for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  11. On low speed (preferably over the sink to contain sugar dust), beat in 3 cups of the powdered sugar. Beat for 3 minutes until thick and creamy. If it isn’t of spreading consistency, add in another cup to cup and a half of sugar and beat well for about 2 minutes.
  12. Spread or pipe onto the cupcakes.

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Easy Caramel Apple Granola

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Easy Caramel Apple Granola

Easy Caramel Apple Granola

Back when I was a kid (yeah, yeah, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we wrote by chiseling on stone tablets), cereal was so much more fun. No one was worrying about whether it was gluten free, because no one knew what the heck gluten was. There was no panic over HFCS being used in cereals because we had the good stuff in our cereals… real sugar! Parents didn’t make their children start their days with food that was approved by our presidents wife (wth is up with that crap, anyway?); food that would carefully begin their days with a perfect balance of nutrients so that little Joey could go kick little Bobbys ass out on the playground when no one was looking because little Joeys mom and little Bobbys mom were in a feud over whose youth soccer league was better.
Nope… when I was a kid, we had far more fun being..well, kids. We ate Pop Tarts for breakfast (for the record, no, my son does not eat pop tarts for breakfast and yes, I know that makes me hypocritical. Ask me if I care. 😀 ), followed by a heaping bowl of something like Kaboom… aka round sugar shapes disguised with a bit of grain. Or maybe King Vitamin, aka, round sugary shapes disguised by a vitamin or two. Then there was the really fun stuff like Count Chocula, which one can only get now during the Halloween season (when the heck did Halloween become big business and even GET its own season, btw?) or one of my favorites, Super Sugar Crisp, well named because sugar made up 95% of its ingredients. In other words, damn, it tasted good! Now however, they have changed the name and the ingredients because the word sugar makes everybody freak out.
Did I forget to mention that was a child, we also played outside unattended, even after dark, and the police weren’t called on our parents, that if we acted up at school, our parents didn’t go in and blame the teacher, but actually disciplined us for what we did wrong and lets not forget the ever reliable, we walked five miles to school… uphill…. both ways.
All that being said, even when I was a kid, one of my favorite cereals has always been any type of granola. Granola has always had this strange rep as healthy. But guess what… it rarely is 😀 It has its good points nutritionally. Since it has a high proportion of fruit, nuts and grains, it has a fair amount of fiber and protein. But that comes with a price. It is also very calorie dense and if you use it like a “normal” cereal and just pour it in a bowl and douse it in milk, you will most likely end up with a 600 calorie bowl of breakfast. It’s better to use it more sparingly; portioned out for the kiddos or yourself in a baggie or mixed into yogurt, spooned over some ice cream or served as a snack with some cheese and fresh fruit.
When I got the idea for this granola, I was sure I would find 500 other incarnations of it online. But lo and behold, while there are caramel apple desserts galore, there was not one caramel apple granola that I found in like 20 pages of Google search. (Edited to add- my brother informed me that yes, there ARE a bunch of them and I realized that what I had googled was what I had originally intended to call this- caramel apple PIE granola. There are none of those, but alas, I’m not original in the other name. *sobs* Brothers! Always have to ruin ones fun!!) Yay for a brief moment of being unique!! I also originally intended to make this completely from scratch, but changed my mind. There are a TON of tasty, plain granolas out there for a decent price that are easily doctored up so I just rolled with that idea. I used my favorite plain granola- Cascadian Farms Fruit And Nut Blend. Then I added some salted caramel sauce (Trader Joes brand, but feel free to use homemade and to use a plain caramel sauce rather than salted), some chopped dried apple slices, some dried cherries, some roasted pistachio pieces for a bit of protein and crunch, mixed it all together and baked it for long enough to “set” the caramel. Let it cool, break it up and voila, you have the perfect snack!

You know the drill… 🙂

Caramel Apple Granola

  • 4 cups (one 13.5 ounce box) of your favorite plain granola
  • 2 cups chopped dried apple slices (about 1.5 bags)
  • 2/3 cup dried tart cherries
  • 2/3 cup roasted pistachios (no shell)
  • 1 1/4 cups caramel sauce (homemade, store bought, salted or not; your choice)
  • whatever else makes you happy in the way of nuts or fruit. You could also add about 1/4 cup of flax or chia seeds or some wheat germ
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the top and using either a large wooden spoon or just your hands, mix it all together until the granola is evenly coated.
  3. Spread out onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 325 for ten minutes. Take out of the oven and break the granola up turning the pieces over, as the bottom will be getting crispy. Bake for ten more minutes at 325. Don’t over bake this. Remember, the granola was already ready to go. You are just baking this to set the caramel.
  4. Place the pan on a rack to cool completely. When cool, break this up into bite sized pieces (or chunks if that’s the way you roll… I tend to prefer smaller pieces so I can use it in yogurt). This is NOT a completely dry granola. It will have a slightly tacky feel even after baking because of the caramel sauce.
  5. When this is 199% cool, store in a tightly covered container.

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Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies




 

I was going through the blog the other day, contemplating redoing some old recipes, using photos that don’t make me cringe. I mean, really, I’m not going to set the world on fire even now with my mad photography skillz but at least now I don’t alternate between hysterical laughter and wanting to gouge my eyeballs out with a spork. Then though? Oh…my….gosh. I sucked.

When I was going through though the recipes though, something occurred to me. I do not have even ONE plain old chocolate chip cookie recipe in here.

Well, guess what? I STILL don’t have one plain old chocolate chip cookie recipe in here. I’m tellin’ you; it’s impossible for me to leave a recipe alone! And while I realize that 900 other bloggers have gone the stuffed cookie route, I’m still hanging onto that possibility that there are one or two of you out there who don’t visit many other blogs, but love me for my special type of charm. Plus, my cookies are different. Please don’t ask me why because I don’t have a valid reason. Just trust me on this. k? We’re cool?

As for a plain recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I’ll get to it. Someday. Maybe.

That title up there? It is not entirely accurate. At least not for me. I changed it up mid way through and stuffed some of mine with peanut butter filled Dove chocolates. Point being… these are easy to vary. Grab your favorite piece of filled chocolate and bury that sucker in dough.

The cookie part of this is based on Jacque Torres recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I changed it up to the point that the basic home baker who doesn’t have a large variety of flours and ingredients can do it. I also cut down on the amount of chocolate in the dough, as even were I not stuffing these, I would have found it too much. But, having tried the original, I can tell you honestly that I didn’t taste a difference. I think the main thing with his is the resting time and the usage of the 2 flours, which I still adhered to.

You know the drill… git to cookin’ 🙂

Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (if you happen to have cake flour, use 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons of cake flour instead)
  • 1 2/3 cup bread flour (no subs)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar (I used dark brown)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 16 ounces chopped dark chocolate
  • a bag or container of your favorite chocolates (I used a mix of some sea salt caramels I bought at Costco a while back and two different varieties of Dove chocolate, the peanut butter and the salted caramel
  •  sea salt for sprinkling on top (optional)
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  2. Use a strong hand mixer on high or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle and cream together the butter and sugars.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla and beat well.
  4. Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour mixture just until combined.
  5. Use a heavy rubber spatula or wooden spoon and fold in the chopped chocolate.
  6. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.
  7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with either silicone mats or parchment paper to prevent sticking.
  8. Scoop out dough portions weighing about 2 to 3 ounces (that is big enough to totally enfold the chocolate so it doesn’t ooze out everywhere). Flatten the dough somewhat and press a chocolate piece into the middle, then close the dough over it. Roll it in your hands for a second to make sure it is sealed.
  9. Bake at 350 for 16 to 20 minutes (it will vary depending on the size of the dough ball and your oven) or until golden brown and mostly firm on top.
  10. Let cool on pan for a minute, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired when still a little bit warm.

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Creamy Pumpkin Maple Flan

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Creamy Pumpkin Maple Flan

Creamy Pumpkin Maple Flan



Have I ever mentioned that I keep my husband around in spite of some near fatal flaws? Well, if I haven’t… I do. I’m a sweetheart that way. I mean, this is a man who claims to not like doesn’t like sweets and is married to a blogger who makes mainly sweets. he also doesn’t like wings, which I adore, won’t eat mushrooms… which I adore… hates Bleu Cheese…which I adore…prefers white wine whereas I prefer red… and so on. You seeing a pattern here?

But the worst sin of all? He does NOT like desserts that are creamy. Unless they are ice cream, in which case all bets are off. But desserts like this cheesecake flan or this coconut flan tend to fall completely off of his radar. Some weird justification of “I don’t like the texture”. WHAT!?! What’s not to like? Creamy, silky, smooth… did I mention creamy? When I’m not looking, he probably doesn’t enjoy sunsets, pictures of cute kittens and babies or shows like “Little House On The Prairie” either. It’s all been a lie! A lie, I say! *Sobs and goes to eat his share of the flan*

That said, his not liking the type of dessert I most frequently reach for does have its benefits. I get to eat what would have been his.

This is why I keep him.

This flan is so perfectly seasonal. Pumpkin and spices combine with a subtle hint of maple and all of that is based in a creamy, silky smooth flan.  Add in the sweet caramel topping and it’s Heavenly.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Creamy Pumpkin Maple Flan

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (they only come in one size; I believe it is 14 ounces)
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup maple sugar (you can find this at any well stocked grocery store. I buy mine at Trader Joes)
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Start a kettle of water to boiling.
  2. Combine the regular sugar and the water in a small pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. When the sugar is dissolved, turn the heat up to a medium high and cook, with NO stirring, until the caramel is a medium brown color, about 10 minutes. Do NOT walk away from this to tend to the kids, vacuum, take a nap, whatever. Stay near it and just work on the rest of the recipe and check it frequently.
  3. When it is ready, pour it onto the bottom of a deep 10 inch round pan that you have placed inside a larger pan. I use a cake pan.
  4. For the flan part,  in a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and maple sugar. Beat well at low speed with a hand mixer. Add in the pumpkin and spices and beat at low speed.  Add in the eggs and the yolks and beat until combined.
  5. Add in the cream and sweetened condensed milk and whisk (trust me… don’t continue to use the beater. Don’t ask how I know these things.) until it is thoroughly combined.
  6. Use a fine mesh strainer and strain this through it into the pan with the caramel. The straining isn’t absolutely necessary but it prevents you from having any fibrous parts in the custard and makes it much smoother.
  7. Carefully place the whole pan into the 300 degree oven. Carefully (again), pour the boiling water into the large pan surrounding the flan, being careful not to splash it into the flan itself. You want it to come about halfway up the side of the cake pan.
  8. Bake for about 60 to 70 minutes or until a butter knife inserted off center comes out clean. The center should still be jiggly, but not loose; rather like when you wiggle set jello.
  9. Cool for about 60 minutes, then put in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or so.
  10. Place a large plate over the flan and invert it onto the plate.
  11. Serve. Sing my praises.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 

This is going to be one of my shorter, less wordy posts. I know…ME… not long winded. What can I say? We all have our days… or in my case, our brief moments. It’s been a long difficult day, I’m totally pooped and I have a headache. But I lurves you all enough that I wanted to get this recipe up before the end of the day anyway. See how good I am to you? 😛

You know the drill… 🙂

Love you all!!!!! <3

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

  • 1 20 ounce can pineapple slices in juice, drained and (you will use about 8 of the slices), slices lain on a paper towel and patted dry
  • 6 Maraschino cherries, drained (optional)
  • 1 2/3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temp
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and get out a 10 inch cast iron pan (you can sub a ten inch cake pan, but a cast iron pan is more traditional).  In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
  2. In another small bowl, combine the sour cream or with the vanilla. Also set aside. 😀
  3. Melt 1/2 stick of the butter in the cast iron pan. Just toss the butter in the pan and shove it in the oven for a couple of minutes. When it is melted, sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter. Lay the pineapple slices around the outer edge of the pan. You should be able to fit 6. Use 2 more, broken in quarters, in the spaces in between each slice.
  4. In a large bowl, combine the remaining stick of butter and the sugar. Beat at medium speed with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes; until light and fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. Transfer over to a wooden spoon or rubber spatula- alternately fold in the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture (flour, sour cream, flour, sour cream, flour), mixing well after each addition.
  7. Spoon the batter over the pineapple slices and smooth it out.
  8. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  9. Immediately run a butter knife around the edges of the cake and then invert the pan onto a plate large enough to hold the cake. If any of the fruit sticks to the pan (if you are using a well seasoned pan, it shouldn’t, but…) just lift it out and place it on the cake.
  10. If you actually have any left over, cover well and store at room temp.

Copyright Notice: From Cupcakes To Caviar images and original content are copyright protected. Please do not publish these materials anywhere without prior permission.