Oatmeal Apple Muffins #secretrecipeclub

It's September. Can you tell I am excited? Not only are we one step closer to Fall but my birthday is only 5 days away.  We are going to have some big celebrations next weekend.  Heck we may even start early if I have any say.  

It being the beginning of the month and all means it is time for another rendition of the Secret Recipe club. This month for the Secret Recipe Club I had BCMom's Kitchen.  I think we were made to paired together.  She looks for good recipes that are EASY. Making meals that can be done ahead of time and then quick to throw together before dinner.  I love after most recipes that she has a little note about what worked, what didn't and how to modify for next time. 

Since it was September I was all about the apples.  I did a quick hunt for apples recipes. There were a ton.  I was all about this Apple Crunch recipe because it looks delicious and it was from her favorite cookbook. And then there was this cinnamon apple dutch baby.  I finally ended up with these oatmeal apple muffins.  We needed something to have on hand for a quick snack and breakfast.  The muffins were perfect, with not too much sugar and made with whole wheat flour, I didn't hold back in giving them to Miss O.  They were delicious and moist. Now I am all excited for the many more apple recipes I am going to make this Fall. 

Oatmeal Apple Muffins

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast apple cinnamon oatmeal

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Ingredients (12 muffins)

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions

Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with liners. Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat together egg, milk, oil and sugar.

In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients.

Fold egg mixture into dry mixture, just to moisten.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350°

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An InLinkz Link-up

Skillet Apple Cobbler ‪#‎thebookclubcookbookCC

This month I have dutifully been reading The Killer Angels for the #thebookclubcookbookCC.  Not familiar with the  #thebookclubcookbookCC?  Well it's a group of 11 bloggers where each month we pick a book, to read or not is up to you, and then make a recipe either from The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp or something inspired by the book. If you are interested in joining see this post from Camilla, our leader or Ashley's invitation for February.

There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post for The Book Club Cook Book so keep reading. 

So back to The Killer Angels. This book is a classic, very much something my father would read. Being about the Civil War I wasn't sure if I was going to get into it or not.  I brought it with me on my trek to Texas and was a bit worried that it was my only entertainment on a 4 hour flight.  What if I didn't like it?  Well I had no need to worry.  I ended up really enjoying the story and different perspectives about the battle of Gettysburg.  

There was a lot of food talk in the book, mainly because they were tired and hungry after the battle and because their wasn't much food to go around.  I thought about roasting a chicken because there was a scene at the end where the smell of chicken was almost too much for one of the soldiers to bear.  He ended getting a few pieces.  Another food that made an appearance over and over again in the book, besides coffee and liquor, was cherries.  Too many cherries didn't go over so well for some of the soldiers and their bellies.

The recipe given for The Killer Soldiers in The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors  was a Apple Cherry Cobbler. I don't care for cherries so I opted for a more simple apple cobbler. I made it in a skillet and pictured being able to cook it over an open fire. 

Be sure to check out the other bloggers participating as well!

A Day in the Life on the Farm
Adventures in All Things Food
Cheese Curd In Paradise
Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Life on Food
Mostly Food and Crafts
The Pajama Chef
The Spiffy Cookie
Things I Make (for Dinner)
Tortillas and Honey
ZooeySuff

Skillet Apple Cobbler

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Keywords: saute bake dessert apple fall

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Ingredients (serves 2)

For the Filling;

• 2 Gala apples (about 12 ounces), peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (2 generous cups)
• 2 heaping tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the Cream Biscuits:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Heaping 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch fine salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

For the Filling:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the apples with 2 heaping tablespoons of the sugar, the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the butter, and toss. Put into a 8 inch skillet. Tent each loosely with foil and bake until the apples are tender and the juice is bubbling, about 35 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the oven, remove the foil, give the apples barely a stir with a fork and press the top into the juices.

For the topping:

Whisk together the flour, the baking powder, salt and 1 teaspoon of the sugar in a small bowl. Quickly stir in the heavy cream, then work the dough with your fingers as if you were working butter into pie dough, to make moist, slightly flattened chunks of dough.

Top with dough. Sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining sugar, and bake until the topping is browned and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes.

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Giveaway

This month Ashley at Cheese Curd in Paradise, this month's host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish! One of our lucky readers - US and Canada only! - can enter to win a copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from February 1st till February 29th at 6 o'clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Pinterest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: Ashley received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp as an opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.

Apple Fritter Bread #Secretrecipeclub

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you have the day off and are enjoying a picnic or two with friends and family.  We are bounding along on our first adventure with Olivia. I will let you know how it goes. Hopefully we aren't going to be scared for life about going out with her. 

Today on the blog is a special Memorial Day post for the May Secret Recipe Club.  For those of you who don't know the Secret Recipe Club is a group of bloggers that get together once a month for a special reveal day posting to share a creation from a secretly assigned member of the group.  It is a great way to learn about new blogs and find tasty new recipes.

This month I had Julie from Confessions of A Cooking Diva.  Julie is my kind of woman. She loves pink and books, especially cookbooks. Too bad she lives so far away otherwise I know we would be sharing our cookbooks.

I choose Apples Fritter Bread for my pick but I was eyeing so many recipes.  On the list were the old fashioned meatloaf and guacamole deviled eggs. My husband really wanted me to go with the deviled eggs but my sweet tooth won out.  Of course I didn't hear any complaints once the house filled with cinnamon and apple goodness. 

This might be more of a Fall recipe but Julie made it in March so I was in good company. After all who doesn't like a good apple fritter from breakfast or dessert for that matter. 

We were so impatient to try a piece I might have flipped the loaf before it was cool enough, hence the rip in some of the pictures.  Regardless this bread was amazingly good. We had it warmed, room temperature and topped with ice cream as a late night treat.  I managed to have enough restraint to keep it for three days before finishing it off. The last slice was just as moist and delicious as the first. 

Thanks Julie for such a great recipe. I am keeping it handy for another go around soon and it will definitely make an appearance come Fall. 

Apple Fritter Bread

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: bake bread breakfast dessert apple cinnamon fall

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Ingredients (serves 6-8)

• ⅓ cup brown sugar. I used light
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ⅔ cup granulated white sugar
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1½ cups flour
• 1¾ tsp. baking powder
• ½ cup milk
• 2 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped

For the Powdered Sugar Glaze:

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp. milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Put to the side.

In a bowl of a stand mixer add the sugar and butter. Beat until creamy and the sugar is well incorporated into the butter.One at a time add each egg. Mix until incorporated and then add the vanilla extract.

In a second medium-sized bowl add the flour and baking powder. Stir until mixed and then add to the stand mixer. On low speed mix until combined.

Finally pour the milk into the batter and mix till incorporated.

Pour half the batter into the loaf pan, spreading until the bottom is completely covered. Top the batter with the chopped apples and then sprinkle with the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture.

Pour the remaining batter over the apple and cinnamon/brown sugar mixture.

Take a knife and gently swirl the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture into the top batter.

Bake the bread for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

For the Powdered Sugar Glaze:

In a small bowl combine the powdered sugar and the milk. Mix until well combined. You can vary the amounts of powdered sugar and milk to get the consistency you prefer.

Allow bread to cool at least 20 minutes before glazing.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

We are one week into November and suddenly everyone is requesting Christmas lists.  Where did the Fall go? I haven't done nearly enough baking with apples. No pumpkin recipes as of yet. But yet I am hankering for some Christmas cookies.  

I tagged this recipe several years ago and it has been on my mind ever since. Yes, I have a "to bake" list a mile long. The bread uses applesauce. Not quite apples but close enough in my book.

Mr. J doesn't like cake but if you disguise it in loaf form he doesn't know the difference. 

The loaf comes together so easily and took little effort to put in the oven. The whole wheat flour makes me feel like I am getting a few extra good things in this cake.  And the cinnamon and nutmeg make the whole house smell warm and inviting. 

If you leave off the frosting this recipe could totally pass for breakfast but who doesn't want a little frosting in their lives. The touch of cinnamon makes everything about this cake even more delicious and special.  It has been two days since I baked this up for a special treat and only two slices remain. 

Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

by Emily Morris, Eat, Live, Run

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: bake dessert apple cake fall

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Ingredients (1 loaf)

For the Cake:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup applesauce (unsweetened)

For the Frosting:

• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan well with cooking spray or butter.

In a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg and keep beating until well combined. Scrap down sides of the bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add dry ingredients, along with applesauce, to the wet ingredients and beat until combined, about 30 seconds to a minute more.

Spread batter out in greased loaf pan, smooth surface with a rubber spatula, and bake for about 1 hour, until cooked through and golden brown.

To make the icing, cream together the butter and cream cheese until well combined and smooth, then add the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Continue beating on high for 6-8 minutes until light and fluffy. Spread icing on loaf once completely cooled.

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Apple Cinnamon Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar

Taste the essence of fall with these apple cinnamon donuts with cinnamon sugar.

Happy Sunday!!  This is the first weekend in a long time that we were home. Just the two of us. With no major projects to get done.  And beside the cold temperatures and rainy weather it was wonder.  Even those things weren't too bad. Bring on the soup, sweat pants and movies.  

Mr. J loves apple cider donuts.  Heck, he loves all donuts but in the fall he really loves these.  We have an orchard quite close by and he tends to drop in often to get his fix.  Sadly a lot of the time they aren't hot.  When it comes to apple cider donuts they need to be hot in my mind.  I guess I am picky like that.  

So as a special treat I decided to bake up some of our own apple cider donuts.  Enjoyed (maybe a bit too much) straight out of the oven.

These donuts come together super fast and don't requite any fancy ingredients. Unless of course you count apple cider as super fancy. I used the cider from our local orchard. It is so thick and flavorful I probably could have skipped the instructions below for reducing the mixture. 

We had our fill and then ate the rest the following morning.  A few seconds in the microwave do the fix if you like them warm like me. 

Apple Cinnamon Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast apple fall

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Ingredients (18 donuts or 36 donut holes)

For the Donuts:

• 1 and 1/4 cups apple cider
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

First, simmer apple cider over low-medium heat in a small saucepan on the stove for 15-20 minutes until reduced. You will need 1/2 cup of reduced cider. Transfer cider to a separate container and allow to cool in the refrigerator as make the donuts.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan or donut pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of the cooled apple cider reduction.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and very gently mix together with a whisk. Whisk until all ingredients are just combined. It is OK if small lumps remain, but not many.

Pour the batter into the mini muffin pan, filling 3/4 of the way full. You'll only need a couple teaspoons of batter for each. Do the same if you are making whole donuts. 

Bake the donut holes for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The donuts will take the same amount of time.

For the topping:

Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Dip the donuts all the way into the cinnamon sugar, using your hands to mix it around so the entire donut hole (or donut) is coated generously. Repeat with all the donuts.

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apple pound cake

Cream cheese pound cake made extra moist and sweet with chunks of apples.

One of the hardest parts for me when traveling a lot for work is being away from the kitchen, especially when it comes to baking. I love trying out new local spots for the places I visit and I love sampling sweet treats. But nothing really compares to making something special at home.

After being gone for what seems like forever, I needed to get into the kitchen. After the cookies from yesterday it seems a bit much to make pound cake too.  This recipe even made two loaves.  Overkill yes.

This pound cake has butter and sugar - everything a proper pound cake should include -  plus chunks of apples to give it a Fall spin. Seriously delicious.  One night we even grilled up some slices in butter and topped it with vanilla ice cream. It wasn't chocolate but even I couldn't deny it was good.

Apple Pound Cake

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 75 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert apple fall

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Ingredients (2 loaves)

• 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup apples, diced and peeled
• 2 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degree oven.

In a stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.

Add sugar, beating until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Turn mixer off and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Turn mixer to low and add in flour and salt.

Remove bowl from stand and fold in the diced apples.

Pour batter into two bread loaf pans that have been greased generously. In preheated oven for 75 minutes. The bread should be golden and set but not too browned.

Remove from oven and cool in pans for about 10 minutes before removing. Finish cooling on rack.

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salted caramel apple crisp {Happy Birthday}

Happy Birthday Mr. J!!

For one month I am officially older than Mr. J.  For the other eleven months of the year we are the same age.

Fun fact about us.  My birthday is 9/10. His birthday is 10/9.  I think that means we were made for each other. 

Sadly he got a cold yesterday.  We will save the big time celebrating for later this weekend but I couldn't let the day pass without giving him a little something special. 

He doesn't like cake. Typically birthdays mean apple pie. This year he said he didn't need a pie but would take whatever apple dessert I concocted.  

This week has been busy for both of us so not having to make pie was music to my ears.  Apple crisp seemed appropriate enough but to jazz it up a bit for a birthday I added salted caramel on top.  Apples. Caramel sauce. Crumb topping.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Salted Caramel Apple Crisp

Adapted slightly from Mother Thyme

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients (serves 8)

For the Topping

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter cut into to small cubes
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Filling

• 3 pounds apples, peeled and sliced ( I used Gala, they need to be crisp apples)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup caramel sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the Topping

In a large mixing bowl add butter cubes, flour, oats, sugars, cinnamon and salt. Using a pastry cutter, chop up the butter until mixture is crumbly.

For the Filling

Toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and toss to coat.

In a large oven safe skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add apples and cook, stirring occasionally until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Use 1/4 cup of store bought caramel sauce to pour on top of apples. Evenly sprinkle with crumb mixture.

Transfer skillet to oven and bake for about 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and remaining caramel sauce.

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