My love for all things pumpkin is no secret. But it’s about time I gave apples their autumnal spotlight! These Apple Cider Whoopie Pies combine two of my favorite things – whoopie pies and apple cider donuts – to make an absolutely wonderful fall dessert.
If you’ve never had a whoopie pie before, they are just two cake-like cookies with a creamy frosting sandwiched in between. These Apple Cider Whoopie Pies have two spiced apple cider flavored cookies, coated in a cinnamon sugar, and then filled with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients (makes 10 whoopie pies):
Cookies:
1 1/4 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
In the 11 years I’ve been writing posts for this blog, I have never posted on Christmas Day!
This year, I decided to finally rectify that and bring a recipe for a Christmas Pudding. Plum Pudding is quite a misnomer (at least to us Americans) – it does not include any plums, and pudding is actually a cake, not a custard-like substance. The method of cooking the plum pudding was new to me too; you actually steam it on your stovetop rather than bake it!
This recipe for Irish Plum Pudding is adapted from a cookbook I have owned for a while (Christmas Flavors of Ireland– paid link), although, I have to admit, I think I royally Americanized the recipe into something different. So, here’s my American Not-Plum Bundt Cake!
Note: You’ll need a 6 cup bundt pan (paid link), and a pot large enough to fit the bundt pan inside (I used a large pot I use to make tomato sauce).
Note: I was sent a copy of The Instant Pot Kosher Cookbook, 100 Recipes to Nourish Body and Soul in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
It is most certainly Instant Pot season! Work (at least for me) is busy this time of year, and yet, I crave meals that take a while to cook! Using an Instant Pot saves me a ton of time, so I tend to use it a lot this time of year.
I was recently sent a copy of The Instant Pot Kosher Cookbook by Paula Shoyer, which is filled with so many delicious sounding Kosher-friendly dishes! With The Instant Pot Kosher Cookbook (paid link) (paid link), Shoyer has curated 100 irresistible recipes for every table that even a novice cook can prepare in minutes. It is filled with modern takes on classic Jewish recipes, with all recipes offering options to adapt for special diets and allergies.
As I was paging through, I kept going back to a recipe for Persian Lamb and Herb Stew. I love a good lamb recipe, so I was excited to try this out! I adapted the below recipe ever so slightly from the original in the cookbook.
I’m really in canning mode recently! I’m still a relative novice to canning, so I stick to sources I trust so I can preserve safely.
Freshpreserving.com is the ultimate source, so when I saw this recipe for Caramel Apple Coffee Jam, I knew I had to try it!
Using coffee in a jam intrigued me; I was interested to see what the flavor of this jam was like!
This is the first time I’ve worked with pectin in a recipe, which is basically a gelling agent that gives jams and jellies their texture. It is a starch found naturally in fruits and vegetables, so a lot of recipes for canning use a bit of acid to create the thickening needed. (I’ve also used chia seeds to create this texture in the past too.)
Ingredients (makes about 6 half pint jars):
5 apples, peeled and diced (about 7.5 cups) – I used honeycrisp apples
I love how comforting a good bowl of soup can be in cold weather, plus soup recipes, including this recipe for Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, are typically super easy to make!
I try to keep my freezer stocked with a bunch of different soups to enjoy on nights that I just don’t feel like cooking.
The use of curry in this Cooking Light recipe for Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup makes for a nice warm tasting soup.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or margarine to make dairy free)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium leek, chopped
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon Madras curry powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 lbs pre peeled, pre cut butternut squash
4 cups unsalted chicken stock (or vegetable stock to make vegetarian)
Stuffing is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving, probably because it’s usually the only time of year I get to eat it. But now that I’ve found this awesome single serving version for Apple Sage Stuffing Cups, I can have it whenever I want with little effort!
This recipe from Cooking Light adds the stuffing to a cupcake tin to bake so that you get more crispy edges. It’s also great as a make ahead option because everything is already portioned out for easy reheating.
It’s September which means apples are right in their prime season! Although apples are available year-round, most apples ripen in the August-October time frame. I’ve had a craving for apples ever since September began so I was so excited when I was contacted recently about trying an apple variety called SweeTango that I’ve never had before.
SweeTango apples a variety bred at the University of Minnesota and are a cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar! varieties. The apples are crisp and sweet with a hint of citrus, honey, and spice and have a nice crunchy and juicy texture that’s perfect to eat raw. They have a beautiful coloring too — SweeTango is a blush apple with deep red coloration over a yellow breaking background. The variety first hit store shelves in limited quantities in 2009, and has since grown to achieve distribution across the U.S. and Canada.
Photo Courtesy of SweeTango
I received two SweeTango apples in the mail and couldn’t wait to try them! One I saved for me to just enjoy on its own and the other went into one of the most delicious salads I’ve ever had, Autumn Apple Salad with Cinnamon Honey Dijon Dressing! This salad is packed with a bunch of different textures and flavors which is what I really love about it. But the true star of the salad is the SweeTango apple!
You can never have too many pie recipes during the holidays! This one for Caramel Apple Pie is a great spin on a traditional apple pie that adds caramel to really amp up the flavor. The recipe comes from Organic Valley and uses their Salted Butter, Whole Milk, and Eggs. Note: I was sent a coupon to receive one Organic Valley product for free.
Organic Valley is a co-op of organic farmers based in La Farge, Wisconsin. The cooperative was founded in 1988 and markets its products in all 50 states as well as Canada and Japan. Organic Valley promotes organic agricultural methods, with each participating farm certified as organic by the National Organic Program.
A problem I still run into when cooking/baking is I rarely read the directions all the way though before starting (a huge no no). So I made a completely different pie crust by accident because I got confused as to where the sugar and egg was supposed to go in the original recipe. Luckily it turned out fine (whew!) but for the original recipe, be sure to head over to the Organic Valley website.
2 pounds organic Granny Smith apples (10-11 medium-sized apples or 4 large), peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch thick slices (coat slices with juice of 1 lemon to prevent browning)
I love fall treats, but I can’t really justify making a whole apple pie for just my boyfriend and I; we would be eating it for days! So I love that this month’s Cooking Light had a recipe for mini spiced apple two bite tarts that I can also share with friends. I adapted the recipe slightly, adding some more fall spices. I also didn’t have any 1% milk on hand so I substituted heavy cream. I also topped mine with mascarpone instead of crème fraîche because I thought it would taste great with these tarts.
These are really easy to make; the most difficult part (a.k.a. most time consuming) is dicing the apples. But you definitely want to cut them nice and small so that they fit in the tarts. You also need a mini cupcake tin for this, but you can adapt it to make normal cupcake sized ones if you wanted, just increase the baking time.
Ingredients:
CRUST
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup very finely chopped toasted pecans
Baking spray with flour
FILLING
2 cups finely diced peeled Granny Smith apple (~4 apples)
Last year, I gave my dad sangria for Father’s Day. He loves sangria, so I thought I’d make it a yearly thing.
This time around though, I was also trying to sneak something by him. Instead of using sugar in the sangria, I used Monk Fruit In The Raw, a natural substitute. My father is diabetic, and Monk Fruit In The Raw is diabetic friendly (according to their website, “Monk Fruit In The Raw contains less than one gram of carbohydrates (by food exchange measure) and may be used in conjunction with food programs for people with diabetes as well as with guidelines for people with diabetes who use carbohydrate counting.”)
Now, I understand sangria in itself is not exactly diabetic friendly. But he is able to enjoy a glass or two once a year. The real reason I am trying the Monk Fruit In The Raw within the sangria is to see if he can taste a difference. You see, not only is he diabetic, but he is what some refer to as a “super taster.” He can tell you the secret ingredient in a recipe, and knows whether a wine is worth drinking. But, boy can he be picky too.
Unlike stevia, which leaves behind an aftertaste, Monk Fruit should be undetectable. So this is the first test to see if I can sneak Monk Fruit In The Raw into future recipes for my dad. So what is a Monk Fruit? Monk Fruit is a vine-ripened fruit found in Asia that kind of resembles a tiny watermelon. Monk Fruit In The Raw is made from Monk Fruit extract, which is about 300 times (!) sweeter than sugar. To make it measurable for consumption, dextrose (a natural bulking agent) is blended with the extract. Monk Fruit In The Raw also comes in a Bakers Bag, which is measurable cup-for-cup like sugar (in volume, not weight). The Bakers Bag contains Maltodextrin, which is also a natural bulking agent, that does not change the flavor of the sweetener. I used the Bakers Bag for this recipe.
I love recipes that make it easy to serve a bunch of people with minimal effort. A slow cooker is usually a go-to for those types of recipes but I’ve never considered using it to make breakfast before. The Ninja Cooking System is the perfect tool for it though. They sent over this recipe for a Slow Cooker Apple French Toast Casserole and I couldn’t wait for the weekend to come so I could make it.
This recipe makes 8 servings so it would be great for breakfast for a larger group but I also packed up the rest of my servings to reheat during the week.
Ingredients:
½ cup butter
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 loaf challah bread (about 1 pound), cut into cubes
I wanted to make another batch of the Applejack Spiked Hot Cider but *gasp* I couldn’t find any apple cider anywhere! There must have been a Thanksgiving rush, but I wanted some darn Apple Cider. But then I remembered I bought a Babycakes Cake Pop Maker (paid link) and figured I could at least make Apple Cinnamon Donut Holes as a sweet apple-y substitute. (Because I couldn’t find apple cider, I substituted apple juice)
I love a good mashed potato recipe. They are definitely my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. Classic mashed potatoes will always be a favorite of mine, but this recipe from Nigella Lawson that I found on The Chew sounded really fantastic. My aunt and uncle always use horseradish cheddar in their mashed potatoes and I love the tanginess that the horseradish brings. I thought it would be the perfect complement to the sweetness of the apples.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup whole milk
1 – 1 1/2 cup horseradish cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
2 fuji apples
4 strips of bacon
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter
You need a red apple that can stand up to being sauteed and maintain its shape. Look for Liberty, Fuji, Jonagold, or Pink Lady apples.
Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Peel your potatoes. Cut into smaller pieces and add to the pot.
Boil the potatoes for 30 minutes or until fork tender.
While waiting for the potatoes to cook, add the bacon to a saute pan over medium heat. Heat until cooked through, turning once, about 10 minutes.
Remove the bacon from the pan and add to a plate lined with paper towels. Roughly chop.
Add the shallots and the apples to the saute pan with the bacon drippings.
Saute over medium-low heat until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm. Mix with the chopped bacon.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain. Take the pot that you used to boil the potatoes and add the 1 cup whole milk over low heat. Using a ricer or potato masher, mash the potatoes back into the pot, stirring to combine with the milk.
The horseradish cheddar I used was really soft so I just broke it into smaller pieces and mixed into the potatoes. If you have a harder version, you can grate the cheese and add it in, mixing to combine. Add the butter and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Top with the bacon and apples.
I had no idea apples would go so well with mashed potatoes! The slight sweetness with the shallots was such a perfect complement to the subtle tang of the horseradish cheddar. And obviously, everything is better with bacon.
This would be a fantastic spin to traditional mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving without adding too much extra work to your day. You could make the mashed potatoes and the bacon and apple mixture both the day before. The day of, you can heat both separately and then top the potatoes with the mixture.
Horseradish Cheddar Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Apples
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup whole milk
1 – 1 1/2 cup horseradish cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
2 fuji apples
4 strips of bacon
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
You need a red apple that can stand up to being sauteed and maintain its shape. Look for Liberty, Fuji, Jonagold, or Pink Lady apples.
Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Peel your potatoes. Cut into smaller pieces and add to the pot.
Boil the potatoes for 30 minutes or until fork tender.
While waiting for the potatoes to cook, add the bacon to a saute pan over medium heat. Heat until cooked through, turning once, about 10 minutes.
Remove the bacon from the pan and add to a plate lined with paper towels. Roughly chop.
Add the shallots and the apples to the saute pan with the bacon drippings.
Saute over medium-low heat until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm. Mix with the chopped bacon.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain. Take the pot that you used to boil the potatoes and add the 1 cup whole milk over low heat. Using a ricer or potato masher, mash the potatoes back into the pot, stirring to combine with the milk.
The horseradish cheddar I used was really soft so I just broke it into smaller pieces and mixed into the potatoes. If you have a harder version, you can grate the cheese and add it in, mixing to combine. Add the butter and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
I love French toast. I may or may not have had dreams about Sabrina’s French Toast (in the Italian Market in Philly) but I always have a bit of eater’s remorse when I realize how many calories I managed to consume before 10 am. I must not be the only one, because Cooking Light had a lighter French Toast recipe that takes advantage of seasonal apples in their most recent issue.
Ingredients (4 servings):
Compote:
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon butter
3 sliced and peeled Fuji apples
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
French toast:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 knotted challah rolls
2 teaspoons butter, divided
Powdered sugar (optional)
Prepare the apples. Peel the apples and slice into somewhat even sizes so that they cook evenly. If you cannot find Fuji apples, Cooking Light suggests substituting Liberty, Pink Lady, or Jonahold apples because they will maintain their shape while cooking.
Heat a saute pan over medium heat and coat the pan with cooking spray. Melt 1 teaspoon butter and add the apples. Cook for 8 minutes or until tender. Be sure to stir so that all sides of the apple get evenly cooked.
Stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon and keep warm.
In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Add milk, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs and whisk until blended.
Slice each of the challah knots in half.
Add the challah pieces 1 or 2 at a time to the milk mixture, coating them well on each side.
Using the same saute pan you used for the apple compote (this will give the French toast a slight apple flavor), melt 1/2 teaspoon butter in the pan over medium heat. Add 2 bread slices and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. (Because of the knot, press down on the slices so that it can cook evenly). Repeat with remaining butter and slices.
Serve topped with compote and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
This was a very satisfying breakfast, but didn’t weigh me down. The apples caramelized, bringing out their sweetness which was a nice addition to the French toast. I loved using the individual rolls of challah, you end up with an already portioned for you meal.
This recipe was so good, I actually made it again the next morning!
New York Times recently had an article with a recipe from Carmen Quagliata, the executive chef at Union Square Café. The recipe was for a perfect winter dish: Vegan Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash and Apple with Candied Walnuts. Usually when searching for Brussels sprouts recipes, bacon is almost always included, so I was happy to find a somewhat healthy alternative. I thought Ash Wednesday would a great to try out this recipe for dinner.
Ingredients for Brussels sprouts:
1 ½ cups Brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch asymmetrical chunks
2 cups (about 1 large) Honeycrisp, Cortland, or Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1-inch asymmetrical chunks (my local market was out of these options so I used two Pink Lady apples)
1 shallot, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 fresh sage leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ tablespoon maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While it is heating up, prep your Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apples, and shallot. To trim the Brussels sprouts, cut off the rough white stem and then cut the sprout in half. If any outer leaves fall off discard them as well.
This was my first attempt at cutting and peeling a butternut squash, and I found the blog A Veggie Venture to be super helpful. The blog has a lot of great tips about veggies in general, so I suggest checking it out. If you’re not up for cutting your own butternut squash, Trader Joe’s sells already cubed pieces. However, they are a bit more dried out than freshly cut squash so keep that in mind.
I only needed the top half of the butternut squash
I used an apple corer to prepare the apples, and then cut the slices in half.
Keep the skins on the apple
Toss the Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apple, and shallot with the olive oil and sage leaves in a shallow baking dish.
So many colors!
Season with salt and pepper.
Bake at 375 until vegetables and apple are wrinkled and slightly brown, about 45 minutes to an hour. Do not disturb or mix the dish while it’s cooking.
If you don’t have time or are just apprehensive about making the candied walnuts, you can purchase them already made.
However, the recipe is below in case you’re feeling adventurous. (Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult!)
Ingredients for walnuts:
6 cups vegetable oil
6 ounces walnut halves
2 cups confectioners’ sugar (I ended up using less than a cup and they were fine)
kosher salt
To make, place a deep fryer or high-sided saucepan over high heat (I ended up using my pasta pot; my saucepans were all dirty from previous cooking adventures). Add the oil making sure there is at least 3 inches from the top of the pot. (When the walnuts are added, the oil bubbles and rises so you need room for this to happen) Heat to 375 degrees.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in another pot. Add the walnuts and boil for 10 seconds. Drain well and immediately toss with confectioners’ sugar. Spread flat on a baking sheet to allow to dry.
Walnuts after tossed in powdered sugar
The original directions suggest having a baking sheet lined with paper towels nearby. Mine stuck to the paper towels (boo) so I’d suggest maybe using parchment paper. Working in batches if necessary, add the walnuts to oil and stir once or twice. Fry until amber-brown or about 30 seconds. Using a wire skimmer or a heatproof slotted spoon, remove walnuts and move to baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
To serve, drizzle maple syrup over roasted vegetables and sprinkle with walnut pieces.
How good does that look??
This dish was really great. It had the feel of a comfort food dish without the leftover heaviness.
I was sort of hoping the Brussels sprouts would play a bigger role in the dish, but the butternut squash was what I kept going back for (nothing wrong with that). The walnuts add a lot of sweetness to the dish so don’t go overboard on topping the dish with them. The best part though, was that with so much flavor, I didn’t even miss not having meat for dinner!
Note: If you want something to pair with this to make a more hearty meal, the recipe suggests serving it with walnut bread.
