Gizdich Farms Raspberry Green Apple Crisp

I have something for you guys!  A super delicious yet relatively easy recipe for your upcoming Thanksgiving dinner.  Or dinners if you're lucky like me.  I have FOUR to attend this year.    Two down, two more to go!  For number two (a Friendsgiving) this crisp.  I can't ALWAYS bring cookies. (Yes, I can.) 

The recipe was sourced and inspired by last month's visit to Watsonville (California) to visit  the boyfriend's old stomping grounds.  Watsonville is known for their agriculture -- STRAWBERRIES! -- they are home to both Driscoll's and Martinellis.  November is well past berry season, but we made it in time for the tail end of apple season.   

Along with touring apiaries and old highschools, we took a quick trip to Gizdich Farms.  It's an orchard where you can pick apples and berries, eat at their in-house bakery thats uses their own fresh fruit, have a picnic, shop at their market, or buy their fresh apple juice.  We didn't have time to pick apples, but we did have enough time to go to the pie shop.  Who doesn't have time for pie?  It was delicious.  We also went by their market where I picked up some of their free recipes.  Glad I did because I picked up this little gem.  

Crips are basically one step short of a pie and I can get behind that.  Less work and still delicious!  Until pies stop intimidating me so much I think I shall stick with crisps.  I was drawn to this recipe because they used both apples AND raspberries.  

The combination of the tart fruits and the cinnamon sugar is great and they even use walnuts!  It's a great spin on a traditional Thanksgiving apple pie for sure.

Raspberry Green Apple Crisp

Use a 12 cup baking dish, bake at 375* for 20 minutes, and then for an additional 40.  Serve warm, preferably with ice cream.

For the topping:

1 c. rolled oats

3/4 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 c. unsalted cold butter

3/4 c. walnuts

For the filling:

10 large green apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1 1/3 c. raspberries 

1/3 c. sugar (or less, to taste)

2 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

1. Mix oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a bowl.

2. Add butter and and cut in (with a pastry cutter) until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

3. Fold in walnuts.

4. Set aside in a refrigerator while you prepare the apples.

5. Combine apples, berries, sugar and lemon juice is a  separate bowl.  (Amount of sugar is optional. Use less if you prefer a more tangy dessert.)

6. Butter your baking dish, and spread apple-raspberry filling evenly.

7. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

8. Uncover dish and bake for an additional 40 minutes, or until apples are soft and topping is brown and toasted.  

9. Serve warm.  Add vanilla ice cream if you want to be someone's bff.

I loved how the raspberries melted into the apples.  

And I loved the added walnuts.  Did you guys know that I am slightly allergic to walnuts, but I eat them anyways?   Such risky behavior.  

I shall try to be more active on here, I seem to have fallen off again.  I blame the two weddings I was in.  They stole my free time.  Oops.  But I wouldnt have had it any other way.  BFF Pammy and my favorite Hugo are happily married and my heart is still full for two of the friends I am most grateful for in this world.  

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Friendsgiving, Happy Turducken or whatever you call your day.  Just make sure there's a lot of  Gluttony and Gratitude in it.  

xoxo,

Anna 

Disclaimer:  I did not use Watsonville apples for this.  I did not have any left by the time I baked. 

Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon Walnut Almond Streusel

Good Morning all!  Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving.  I did.  Three Thanksgivings under my belt, one more to go next week!  The season of gluttony has arrived. And in case you have not already, don't forget to set your scale back five pounds to resolve the guilt from over indulging.  :)

But are you stuck with left overs you aren't thrilled about eating?  Then I have a pretty present for you.   If you have some baked sweet potatoes make this bread. If you don't have any, go bake or boil some right now.  Yes, sweet potatoes, the orange ones.  Trust me.  This tastes so good with a cup of coffee in the morning.  Exactly what I am eating now. While in bed. Squish squish. 

I was going to make my usual pumpkin bread, but decided to replace the pumpkin with some extra sweet potatoes I had.  And then I remembered my left over roasted walnuts too from last week's cupcakes.  And this delicious thing was born. 

You can make full sized loaves (makes 2).  Or mini ones.  Because everything mini is cuter right?

Sweet Potato Bread

Makes 5 mini loaves, or 2  9x5 loaves. Bake at 350*  for 40 - 60 min depending on pan size.

2 eggs

1 1/2 c sugar

1/3 c vegetable oil

1/2 c cold water

1 cup mashed sweet potato (plain, baked or boiled)

2 c flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

3.4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In one bowl, mix dry ingredients together and set aside.

2. In stand mixer bowl, add wet ingredients and stir until well combined.

3. Add flour mixture to wet mixture, 1/2 c at a time and mix on low until well incorporated.  

4. Pour batter into two well sprayed loaf pans or into five mini pans.  Do not fill over half way. 

Cinnamon Walnut Almond Streusel 

2/3 c roasted walnuts

1/3 c roasted almonds

1/2 c flour

1/2 c brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tbl melted butter

Directions:

1. Mix together nuts, flour, sugar and cinnamon.

2. Melt butter and pour over mixture. Knead together.  Mixture should be clumpy.  Sprinkle mixture evenly over loaf pans filled with batter.  And bake.

This was my first time making a streusel!  Look how lovely it looks! 

I think i may actually like sweet potato bread better than pumpkin bread! It rises up fluffy at fat.  It browns perfectly.  

If you slice it down the middle, its firm but moist.  And if you shove it in your mouth its delicious.  Not overly sweet, but still sweet enough for me.  What's not to love?

If you make lots of mini loaves they'd make excellent holiday baking presents too.  

Or an excellent gift for yourself because its the Holidays and you deserve to stuff your face guilt free. (Okay, set the scale back ten pounds back...)

xoxo,

Anna

Walnut Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!

The holidays are well under way and I've already gained my obligatory five pounds of winter squish.  A little early this year because I just came back from a 7 day cruise to Mexico where I ate my face off, yes, but also because I just had my first of at least four Thanksgivings.

Yes you read that correctly.  I am having at least four Thanksgivings this year.  And of course I will be baking for all.

The first thing I've baked so far are these very autumn themed Walnut Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes.  After two or so years, I think I have finally perfected my pumpkin spice recipe.  I'm very excited about that.  I'll be adding nuts each time I make it now though, that's for sure. But I am also very happy with the aesthetic of how they came out.  (That means I think they're prettyyyyyy.)

At first I was not even excited about making these.  Until I made a basic pumpkin spice cupcake my own, of course.  Add walnuts.  Add a ginger molasses cookie crust.  And more walnuts on top.  Done.

But I also wanted them to LOOK like fall.  I had done leaves before and I loved how they had come out but they needed something more.  And then I remembered the teeny tiny little leaf shaped cookie cutter that I had bought almost a year ago in a set of cookie cutters at Sur La Table.  I bought it for the star to use on my red velvet cupcakes, but the pack contained a leaf too.  I searched about the grocery store until I found some type of candy I could roll out and settled on gum drops because of the added sugar sprinkle flare. They're quite easy to roll out once you get the hang of it.  But until you get the hang of it, it's a sticky mess so beware.

Gum Drop Leaves
Large Pack of Large Gum Drops/Spice Drops
Small Leaf Cutter

Directions:
1. With a rolling pin and medium pressure, roll on top of gum drop. Turn gum drop 90* and roll again.  Flip gum drop over and repeat until gum drop is mostly flat, about an 1/4 inch long.
2. Press cutter over gum drop and remove excess gum drop from sides before pushing out the leaf.
Tips:  The reason you are are slowly rolling out the gum drop is because if you apply too much pressure and roll it out flat at once, you will make a sticky mess.  You want the gum drop to retain the sugar on top so that it not only looks pretty, but also so that you can still work with it.  Once it's too thin you won't be able to use it anymore.


Initially I wanted to use ginger snaps.  Unfortunately I couldn't find them at the two stores I went to and it was pouring rain so I ended my search and bought molasses cookies.  I spiked them heavily with ginger instead.


Ginger Molasses Crust  (optional)
1 package (10 medium-large) of molasses cookies
2 tsp ginger
1/8 c butter, melted


1. Crush cookies with rolling pin and place in bowl.
2. Add melted butter to cookies, add just enough to make the crumbs workable.
3. Add ginger. Spice to taste.
4. Place one tablespoon of crumbs at the bottom of a lined cupcake tin and press down.
5. Bake in oven for 3-4 minutes at 350* and set aside to cool.



Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Makes 15, Bake for 350* for approx. 15 minutes

1 1/8 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. oil
1 egg
1 c. pumpkin
1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. roasted walnuts

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, all spice, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
2.  In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir two sugars, egg, oil, pumpkin and sour cream until combined.
3.  Slowly add in your dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture, beat on medium speed.
4. Fold in roasted walnuts.
5. Scoop batter onto the top of the ginger molasses crust and bake in oven for 15 minutes or until done.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese in stand mixer until smooth.
2. Add in vanilla.
3. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time and beat until fluffy.
4. Frost cupcakes.

I can't say how much the walnuts added to these cupcakes.  Really.

That and the fact that they bake up super fluffy and full of moisture.

Actually I think it's the combination of the spice and the walnuts and the ginger crust that makes these so good. When people first bite into the crust, they know it's good but they aren't even sure what it is except that they like it.

It's all the flavors of fall (dressed up with a bow of course) in your mouth all at the SAME time. Awesome.

Let's see what else I end up making this week.  Hopefully you fill your kitchens and your bellies with something wonderful.

xoxo,
Anna

Autumn Themed Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting 2.0 turned into my first real baking failure.  Well, half failure.  Half the batch turned into a hot mess.  The other half were fine.  Luckily i was doing mini cupcakes though, so half a batch made 48 mini cupcakes, lol.  Exactly what i needed!  So this post wont be too heavy with the pictures on baking.  And  ill omit the actual recipe to the pumpkin spice cupcakes i made  (just use last years for now, and add more puree and sour cream).  I added too much butter, and while the first batch was cooking, the rest of the batter sat out on the cold counter and the butter started to congeal back together... so when it baked it was like broken butter bubbles.  Not pretty.

I WAS trying to add moisture to the recipe. So i added more butter, pumpkin puree, buttermilk and sour cream. But the butter was too much in the end... haha.

Instead we will talk about how ridiculously easy it is to make cuppycakes look fancy pants.  I found this tutorial online last year and book marked it.  When i found the same sprinkles later on i bought them so that i could use them one day. (Side note:  these were all the rage a few years ago in the cupcake world.  But since im just starting, its okay that i am behind on the times.) Then, last weekend, with two Thanksgiving dinners (omg so much food in two days) and limited time it became the perfect opportunity.  

So i made myself some quick directions that doubled as a template for the trees.  All you need is melted chocolate chips, Leaf sprinkles from Wilton, some parchment paper and a ziplock bag.

Melt some chips in the ziplock, make a small snip at the end of the bag (no tip needed) and make a thick tree trunk.  Then draw 4-5 branches.  Before the chocolate starts to harden, throw some leaves onto the branches.

 Don't forget that it's fall!  Not that many leaves left, therefore not that many needed on your tree.  I just made 4 and start to finish including clean up was 15 minutes.  Super easy.  Could have busted out more, but i had things to do that day.

Then i just carefully placed one little leaf on each of the mini cupcakes.  

And then i stuck the big trees in a cupcake and put them with the rest.  Super easy, super looks like it was hard work.  It wasn't.  Don't tell anyone.  :)

photo credit: pandipoo

photo credit: pandipoo

They were all eaten happily, with no one knowing how close to disaster the actual baking process was.  Sure more butter was consumed than was needed...  but that's Thanksgiving for you.  Your loved ones slowly killing you with fatty food.

xoxo,

Anna

P.S.  Happy Thanksgiving!  :)  I'm off to Costa Rica for 9 days, but i will be back the second week of December with an uber cute cupcake  >.< .  And then maybe something for New Years?  We'll see.  

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Take a look below. This is how many spices go into making pumpkin spice cupcakes. They aren't lying about the spice part, right?

A co worker brought in pumpkin spice bread last week and since then i had the urge to make them into cupcakes. Since my plans got canceled today and it was raining cats and dogs i decided to stay home all day and bake. For no one. Anyone want cupcakes? No, really.

Recipe here. I actually followed it step by step and am 95% happy with them. I just need to find a way to make all of my cupcakes more... moist? I need an official tasting team too. I don't know if thats possible though. ALL MY FRIENDS DON'T EVEN WANT MY CUPCAKES ANYMORE! whatever.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Makes 24. Exactly.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

Sift together the flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

(Use an actual sifter. This is what it looks like.)


(Why do you need one? To mix it all together, but also to catch bigger pieces in the ground spices. Cuz who wants to eat a little piece of clove?)

Beat the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Then add eggs one at a time.

Now time for the pumpking! Which kinda looks like baby food...



I mixed the milk and pumpkin together in one (big) cup. Then i added the 1/4 of the flour mixture and mixed, then 1/3 of the milk/pumpkin , then 1/4 of the flour... alternating until i ended with the last of the flour.

The batter smelled soooo good and pumpkin spicy. It was actually really thick, thicker than expected and made EXACTLY 24 cupcakes.

Cooked at 350* for about 21 minutes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,

softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the confectioners' sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; beat until fluffy.

It's a very pretty frosting. The cinnamon makes it look fancier :) And it makes JUST enough to frost all 24 cupcakes.


I had my mom and brother try them. My brother ate three. My mom ate two.. sans frosting. And reminded me that she hated the chocolate peanut butter ones that i had made... lol

I'll be dropping off another 16 later today.... If they receive good enough reviews, i might remake it just as pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving.



xoxo,
Anna

Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

Circa 2007-ish I believe. I made these for our annual Thanksgiving ("Friendsgiving") pot luck. I got the idea from here. (I think. It was quite some time ago.) There's are cuter though. My eyes look a little crazy pants. Redo this year perhaps?

xoxo,

Anna