If you’ve followed this blog long enough, Dan swears I’m trying to kill him by making him eat healthy. Every once in awhile I will try a recipe that I know isn’t healthy in any form of the imagination. I started to frost the apple upside down cake from Woman Behind the Curtain. Dan walks into the house wondering what Im doing. I told him it was breakfast for this week. He then proceeds to grab his stomach and swears Im trying to make him fat. So I offered to bring it to work. Dan then said “don’t be crazy”. So I decided to leave it at home and have it for breakfast. It was SOOOOOO yummy and SOOOOO easy to make. If you only pick up one fall recipe from this blog I say this is it.

Apple upside down cake

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups apples, chopped and peeled

1 can (12.4 ounce) Pillsbury cinnamon rolls with icing

1/2 cup pecan halves or pieces

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

Directions

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.

3) Spread 1 cup of the apples in pie plate.

4) Separate dough into 8 rolls. Cut each roll into quarters; place in large bowl.

5) Add remaining 1/2 cup apples and pecans.

6) In small bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and corn syrup until well blended. Add brown sugar mixture to dough mixture; toss gently to combine. Spoon mixture over apples in pan.

7) Bake 28 to 38 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Invert onto serving platter.

8) Remove lid from icing. Microwave icing on high 10 to 15 seconds or until drizzling consistency.

9) Drizzle over warm coffee cake. Serve warm.

 

Well folks another weekend has come and gone. Dan declared it was time to watch his yearly Halloween movie. I bet you can never guess which movie he just HAS to watch every year…Elvira…and I bet you can’t guess why…I think it had something to do with her 80’s sense of style…(Yeah right). So now that we got this out of the way I guess that means we can now officially celebrate Halloween next weekend. With that being said, I decided to make Pumpkin beer bread from Real house moms.

It was a huge hit in the office, there was none left. Ill take that as a win. Who doesn’t love beer bread. Next time I made this recipe though, I think I would add in some pumpkin puree.

Pumpkin Beer Bread

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice

12 oz pumpkin beer

½ cup butter, melted, divided

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pumpkin pie spice pour in beer and ¼ cup melted butter and stir until just combined

3) Pour into greased loaf pan pour remaining butter over the top bake in the oven for 1 hour remove and allow to cool

 

Pumpkin Sco-ffin

When I went looking for pumpkin muffin recipes I noticed there was a lot of scone recipes. I decided to make a pumpkin scone muffin…maybe more of a sco-ffin? Yeah we’ll go with a pumpkin sco-ffin.

If you’ve followed this blog long enough, you know about my addition to scones. So why not combine a muffin and a scone together. I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did.

Pumpkin Sco-ffin

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp canned pumpkin puree, chilled (don’t chill in can)

3 1/2 Tbsp buttermilk

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp half and half

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp half and half, then more as needed

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor pulse together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended (if you don’t have a food processor you can whisk by hand in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry cutter).

2) Add butter and pulse mixture several times to cut butter into mixture (large pieces of butter should no longer be visible). Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and create a well in center.

3) In a bowl whisk together chilled pumpkin puree, buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract and honey. Pour mixture into well in flour/butter mixture. Stir mixture with a wooden spoon to incorporate, then knead in bowl (or on work surface) by hand several times to bring mixture together.

4) Spoon into muffin pan lined with wrappers.

5) Brush tops with 1 Tbsp half and half then bake in preheated oven 13 – 15 minutes until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool 10 minutes (no longer) before spreading with glaze.

6) For the glaze: In a mixing bowl whisk together powdered sugar, extract and half and half, adding more half and half as needed to reach desired consistency (it should be fairly thick not runny). Spoon and spread mixture scones to evenly coat tops (use all of it). Let glaze set at room temperature

 

The one thing I love about fall is pumpkin, and apples and comfort food. I only cook with pumpkin only this time of year. So I take every opportunity I can to enjoy it while I can. I made a pumpkin money bread that was to die for from Something Swanky. I knew I was on to something when I left over half of a loaf on the stove top and came back from the gym to an empty plate.

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Ingredients

For the Dough:

1/3 cup milk

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 Tbsp. active dry yeast

2 cups flour

For Rolling the Dough:

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

For the Caramel Filling:

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 tbsp. honey

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

6 tbsp. butter

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla

Directions

1) Place the butter and milk into a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds until warmed through and butter starts to melt. Whisk for about 30 seconds. If the butter melts into the milk, it’s warm enough. If it doesn’t, microwave for another 10-15 seconds until it does. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk.

2) Sprinkle the sugar over the yeast. If the sugar and yeast don’t fall under the surface, swirl gently until they are submerged in the milk/butter mixture. Let sit until foamy.

3) Meanwhile, add the flour, pumpkin, salt, sugar, and egg into the bowl of a stand mixer (or into your bread machine on the dough setting– that’s how I like to do it). Mix ingredients well.

4) Add the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with the bread hook attachment. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the edges as needed. Once a dough ball has formed in the center of the bowl on the bread hook, continue to knead on the hook for 5 more minutes.

5) Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place. Optional: knead the dough for 5 more minutes. Cover in plastic wrap and let rest. In a zip top bag, mix the sugar and cinnamon.

6) When the dough has doubled in size, remove from bowl. Break off golf ball-sized pieces of dough. Place 5-6 dough balls at a time in the bag with the cinnamon sugar, and shake to coat.

7) Place coated dough balls into a well greased bundt pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

8) Whisk together the brown sugar and butter for the filling. Once the dough has risen, pour the brown sugar mixture over the dough, letting it seep in through the cracks, especially around the edges. Don’t worry if a lot of it sits on top, it will soak in during baking.

9) Bake at 375º for 30 minutes. Remove and cover with foil. Return to oven for 10 more minutes. Remove and let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan.

10) Meanwhile, use a hand mixer to blend together the cream cheese and butter. Mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time, then add vanilla.

11) Pour frosting into a zip top bag, set aside. Invert the Monkey Bread onto a large plate. Snip off a corner of the frosting bag and drizzle over the monkey bread. Serve warm!

 

I thin fall is finally here. Theres a chill in the air that’s making me question whether its time to put away my flip flops. With all of this fallish air all I want to do is make some comfort food. This past weekend I made some homemade French onion soup with fresh garlic bread. Dan requested I made this again, just so he can put the onions on top of a burger. (I have a feeling there will be a French onion soup burger in my future). I had to giggle a little when I chose a Martha Stewart recipe for my French onion soup. A friend of mine has nicknames me Martha due to all the cooking I do. So “Martha” was following a Martha recipe…haha. There is nothing I would change in the recipe…I mean besides adding the garlic bread to the top.

French Onion Soup with Garlic Bread

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 pounds yellow onions, sliced 1/4-inch into half circles

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dry sherry

3 cups Beef Stock

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 small French baguette, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces

Garlic Salt

Fresh Garlic

Softened Butter

8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 3 cups)

Directions

1) Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot on medium-low heat. Add onions. Spread them out in as thin a layer as possible. Sprinkle with sugar, and cook, stirring just as needed to keep onions from sticking, until they are melting and soft, golden brown, and beginning to caramelize, about 1 hour.

2) Sprinkle flour over onions, and stir to coat. Add sherry, stock, and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3) Cut Bread lengthwise, spread butter on each side. Put garlic salt fresh garlic and Gruyere cheese on top and put under broiler and toast.

4) Meanwhile, ladle hot soup into six ovenproof bowls. Top with bread and serve immediately.