Apple Spice Cookies

 

Given all the exciting fruit there is to love, from tropicals like kiwi, mango, papaya and pineapple to summer's juicy stone fruits and gorgeous berries, I'm a little boring when it comes to my very favorites. Ordinary bananas and grapes make me happy- and most of all, apples. I like Honeycrisp and Granny Smith best, but any crisp one will do. I think I ate an apple nearly every day of both my pregnancies.

Most of the time, I like them just for snacking, but this time of year I find myself drawn to baking and cooking with them. In the past week and half alone, I've made almond studded whole wheat apple scones, soft granola bars with apple and carrot, cheddar-apple paninis and these cookies. Soft, cake-like and pleasantly spiced, I'm fairly certain these cookies won't ever take the place of your favorite chewy peanut butter or chocolate chip ones, but with apples, cranberries, walnuts and cinnamon, they are a fun treat for fall.

My modifications included the use of butter over shortening, and honey and maple syrup in the place of significantly more brown sugar, as well as the adjustments necessary when baking with natural sweeteners. Smaller changes included swapping out raisins for cranberries and eliminating a glaze that would've made these unbearably sweet. They are delicious warm out of the oven, and even better the next day. Aside a cup of coffee or tea, they could even pass for breakfast.

Apple Spice Cookies
adapted from Glazed Apple Cookies from allrecipes
yields around 2 dozen

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey (I used a Sourwood mixed honey)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 egg
2 cups sifted (prior to measuring) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup peeled, cored apple in fine dice (1 1/2 small apples)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat butter, honey and maple syrup over medium speed until light and thickened, 3 minutes. Beat in egg and blend thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Add half of the flour mixture to honey mixture and combine with mixer on low. Stir in apples, walnuts and cranberries. Add remaining flour and mix well.

Drop by heaping tablespoons (1 1/2 to 2 tbsps worth) on prepared baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Transfer to rack to cool.

Blueberry-Lemon Spelt Scones

   



We've started a new tradition in our house. Saturday mornings are now spent in the kitchen baking, just my three year old and I. He has so much fun helping with the measuring and stirring, plus it gets him special one-on-one time with me. And I really enjoy sharing with Beckett this hobby I've only recently come to love myself. It's crazy to me that I used to not even like to bake only a couple years ago, and now I keep five different types of flour on hand.

Currently my favorite flour to bake with is spelt. I wanted to give making scones a try, and set out to find a spelt scone recipe. The one I found was originally for raspberry scones, but I altered it slightly to include blueberries and lemon juice and zest. These were so wonderful and fluffy, and I thought the accent of lemon flavor really made these. Sweetened by agave, they are just lightly sweet.

This recipe called for scooping the batter in individual mounds, as opposed to shaping it into a large round and cutting into triangles. Since this was my first time making scones, I just went ahead with the method they instructed. The directions said to scoop 12 mounds of 1/3 cup each. Mine were slightly less than 1/3 cup and I only got 8. Since my alterations shouldn't have affected the amount of dough in any way, I'm not sure why I got less, but having less scones at my disposal is probably a good thing. Especially ones as fantastic as these were. 

   

Blueberry-Lemon Spelt Scones

adapted from Food & Wine, Erin McKenna

yields 8 scones

2 cups spelt flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup canola oil, plus extra for brushing (I use a canola and olive oil blend)

1/3 cup agave

2 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup hot water

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the spelt with baking powder and salt. Next stir in the oil, agave, lemon juice and zest and vanilla. Stir in the hot water and then the blueberries.

Using a 1/3 measuring cup, scoop the batter into 8 mounds, placing them on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly brush the tops with oil.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Let the baking sheet cool completely on a cooling rack before removing scones.  

Whole Wheat Orange Bundt Cake

     

After juicing the last oranges of the season from our tree this weekend, I got it in my head I wanted to use some of the juice to bake an orange bundt cake. Searching for such a recipe led me to a beautiful vegan blog, Leaves of Wheatgrass, and a wonderful sounding whole wheat orange bundt cake.

The only ingredient I didn't have on hand was orange extract, but I figured I'd use Grand Marnier. The discovery of an empty decanter led me to plan B and I went with orange zest instead. Later, once the cake was baked, I found that the original recipe that the one I followed was adapted from actually called for zest of two oranges. I'm not sure how much that yields, but I had substituted 1 tablespoon of zest for the 1 teaspoon extract and found it to have the perfect amount of orange flavor. 

I loved this cake and have had a hard time keeping myself out of it. It's very moist, lightly sweet and has that wonderful texture that whole wheat pastry flour lends. I glazed it with a very small amount of glaze that I made by mixing about 2 teaspoons of orange juice with a quarter cup confectioners sugar and an 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract, although truthfully, I'm not certain it even needed it. I think I'll try leaving it plain next time.

And there will definitely be a next time.

Whole Wheat Orange Bundt Cake
 barely adpated from Leaves of Wheatgrass, originally from VegKitchen

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola oil (I used a canola/olive oil blend)
2 cups orange juice
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350. Oil and flour a 12 cup bundt pan very thoroughly. Set aside.

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry. Whisk just to combine, taking care not to over mix. 

Pour mixture into prepared bundt pan and tap it on the counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles. Bake on the middle oven rack for 45 minutes, or until cake is light golden brown and tester comes out mostly clean. 

Cool completely in pan before flipping out on a wire rack. Glaze as desired.

Spring Carrot Teacakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

During the recent time I spent out of the kitchen, I found myself itching to bake. Which amuses me, because when I started this blog not quite two years ago, I didn't even enjoy baking. I think because it was too messy (I have tidiness issues), too exact of a science (I like to play with recipes), but mostly because I just was wasn't a fan of sweets. I can tolerate a counter covered in flour now, and I've actually come to like sweets, unfortunately, more than I used to. My biggest problem now with baking is that I often try to make substitutions to make them a little better for us and then sometimes wind up with a ruined baked good. Nothing worse than a severely under sweetened or overly dense treat.

Because of this, I was excited to receive a copy of Green Market Baking Book: 100 Delicious Recipes for Naturally Sweet and Savory Treats, a lovely cookbook that embraces the concept of eating locally, seasonally and healthfully, and is composed of baked good recipes without the use of refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, many that are dairy-free, vegan or gluten-free. Normally a cookbook without photos of finished products -there are none, just charming illustrations of produce scattered throughout- would greatly disappoint me, but even without, I found myself wanting to try just about every recipe in the book.

First, I made a Honey Whole Wheat Ginger Cake that we loved (warm, for breakfast with coffee or as an afternoon snack with tea), that I somehow never got to photographing. After that, I decided on these carrot tea cakes. Now I probably love carrot cake more than the average person, but anyone who tried these agreed they were wonderful. They are absolutely delicious, and the "frosting," which is a simple maple and vanilla spiked cream cheese spread, really makes them awesome.

And these are only the first two recipes from the book. I have so many more I'm planning on trying.

Spring Carrot Teacakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
from Green Market Baking Book by Laura C. Martin
makes 12 (I halved this recipe and still got 9)

for the cakes:
4 eggs
1 cup maple syrup, preferably Grade B
1 1/4 cups light olive oil
1/2 cup sour cream (I substituted non-fat greek yogurt)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cup grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans (I used walnuts)

for the frosting:
12 oz cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
 1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325.

Beat the eggs until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix the maple syrup, oil, sour cream or yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Add the syrup mixture to the eggs and beat for another minute.

Sift the flours, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to the egg mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the carrots and nuts.

Pour into cupcake liners in a muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took at least 5 minutes longer). 

To make the frosting:
Beat ingredients together until fluffy and spreadable. Use a generous dollop on top of each teacake.

Spelt Banana-Walnut Muffins (and 7 Random Facts)

The last batch of muffins I made were a total flop. In theory, they should've been delicious, with bananas, blueberries, oats, and maple syrup. But they wound up ridiculously undersweet and lacking in flavor completely. I can usually suck it up and finish up less-than-spectacular baked goods or leftovers, but those muffins got tossed. No peanut butter or cream cheese was saving them.

When I got the urge to bake up some more muffins, I wasn't taking any chances. I knew just the ones I wanted to try. I've had the recipe starred in my reader for over 6 months, but I kept forgetting to pick up spelt flour. This was actually my first time baking with it, but I've always really enjoyed any store-bought breads with spelt, so I was pretty certain I'd love these muffins, too.

And oh, did I. Sage and Beckett, too. Because these muffins are awesome! They make up for the last ones (and then some) and are my new favorite muffin. I unveganized them by using an egg and swapped the pecans for walnuts. Instead of evaporated cane juice I used a reduced amount of brown sugar and a little less of the maple syrup called for, and they were plenty sweet. In fact, they need nothing to enhance them. They are perfect as they are.

Before I get to the recipe, I want to thank to Meg of Cooking.In.College for tagging me in her 7 Facts Award post. Before passing it on to 7 other bloggers, I am supposed to share 7 random facts about myself, so here goes:

1)  I have A LOT of shoes -some I've never even worn before- but I tend to wear the same few favorite pairs over and over. And since I live in FL, I wear flip-flops or sandals all year round.  
2)  I could give up meat and sweets entirely without too much trouble, but I don't think I could ever give up cheese or coffee. I hope I never have to.
3)  I will watch tv sometimes with Sage or Beckett, but I pretty much never put it on for myself. I'd much rather read a book or browse blogs or websites, and I hate the television being on just for background noise.
4)  My favorite things to eat are salads and soups. I could have one or the other (or both) everyday and never get sick of them.
5)  My mom gave birth to me at home by herself, more than two months early. Coincidentally, Sage was also born at home, but his home birth (and that of his older sisters) were intentional.
6)  Before I started blogging and reading so many other amazing blogs, I baked about once a year and never really enjoyed it. Now I like to bake several times a month.
7)  My very favorite color is orange, and the majority of the interior walls in my house are an orange color.

I'm passing this to on 7 very rather different bloggers, because I am curious of what they will share. My Life as a Cradle Rocker, Culinary Flavors, Of Muses and Meringues, Simply Life, Kate & Khan, Eat Well. Live Well. Be Well. and Just2Good. If you want to participate, link to the person who tagged you, list 7 random things about yourself and then pass it on to 7 other bloggers. 

Now for the recipe...

Spelt Banana-Walnut Muffins
adapted from Cate's World Kitchen
yields 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 rip bananas, mashed
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the banana, sugar, maple syrup, egg and oil. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet, taking care not to overmix. 

Divide batter evenly between the liners. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over top and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Cool in muffin tin for about 10 minutes, before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints

My love for peanut butter is so great that I think I could work it into breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then still be okay with it in dessert or snack form. Of course, in reality, I do manage to eat it in moderation, but that doesn't keep me from bookmarking most every peanut sauce or peanut butter dessert I come across.

When I found cookies that were a spin on the classic PB & J sandwich in Living, I immediately tore out the recipe. For several months, I've been dying to make them, but I didn't quite trust myself to have the 40 or so cookies that it yielded laying around (or even 20 from a half batch). My willpower just isn't what it should be these days.

My solution: Beckett and I would make them to give out as favors for his birthday party! Then I'd get to try them, but would be able to give most of them away. My plan backfired a little, since I only had one left over after they were evenly divided for the treat bags, and I had to share that one with Beckett. For such an anticipated cookie, only getting half didn't cut it. Not to mention that Sage was disappointed he didn't even get one. Since I've gotten feedback they were awesome, I now am going to have to make them again!

I didn't feel the need to alter this recipe, nor did I try to healthify it in any way (it was for birthday party goodie bags after all!) but I do have a few recipe notes to share:

* I used Polaner Seedless Raspberry (our household favorite with peanut butter!) to fill mine, but you can use any flavor jam or jelly you wish.

* I used closer to 1/3 of a cup of jam than 1/2, and used the microwave instead of the stove top to loosen it up. About 10 seconds or so did the trick.

* When baking Peanut Butter Kisses for the holidays, I read the tip that regular natural peanut butter won't allow the cookies like these to correctly set, and that a natural peanut butter spread should be used instead. When I went to make these, I was a little short of the PB spread, so I used a 1/2 a cup and then used a 1/4 a cup of regular creamy natural peanut butter.

* For the final baking step, the recipe calls for cooking until edges are golden, 6-7 minutes. I baked mine for 9, and never got a "golden edge," but that time seemed just right. Perhaps this was due to my peanut butter combination?

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints
from Martha Stewart Living
yields around 40 cookies

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat together peanut butter and butter with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Scoop level tablespoons of dough and form into balls. Roll each ball into granulated sugar (a great job for little helpers!) and transfer to parchment lines baking sheets. spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake until cookies are puffy, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and make indentations in the center, by pressing with the handle end of a wooden spoon. Return to oven and bake until edges are golden, 6-7 minutes more (see note above).Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool completley.

Heat jam in a small saucepan, stirring until loosened, about 30 seconds (or alternately, in the microwave in a microwave safe dish, for about 10 seconds.) Spoon about a half teaspoon into the indentation.

Cookies can be store in a single layer for up to a week.

Cranberry Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you've read me carry on about how I'm not really a big fan of sweets, blah, blah, blah. But I guess it's not up to me right now. Apparently this baby has a sweet tooth, because I have been craving them lately. Sometimes, a cup of tea with honey or a bowl of lightly sweetened cereal will do the trick. Other times, not so much. To keep myself from eating junk, I've baked up a few batches of muffins lately in order to have something sweet, but fairly healthy to snack on.

None of them have really been impressive enough to share, and I'll be honest, when I tried this batter before baking, I was certain these wouldn't be either. In fact, I almost tossed it out. It tasted like nothing but baking soda and had no sweetness whatsoever. Thank goodness I didn't, because these muffins are great. And even better the next day. They have a slightly dense, healthy taste that I actually enjoy in a muffin, while still staying moist and lightly sweet. And without the use sugar, butter, oil or eggs.

According to the site I found these, you can use any fruit juice or type of milk for the liquid, and and any type of fruit pulp (applesauce, pumpkin puree, smashed bananas, etc.) Obviously, I can't support that claim without trying out different combinations, but I can tell you using apple juice and pumpkin made for a tasty muffin for me. I also added vanilla, cinnamon and a little agave, along with some dried cranberries and some white chocolate chips that I had laying around. While I loved the cranberries, I think I'd prefer to leave out the chips next time to embrace this muffin's healthiness. I'd rather go with extra dried fruit and add some chopped nuts. In any case, the beauty of these are how adaptable they are.

Cranberry Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins
adapted from Diana's Awesome Oatmeal Muffins, Food.com

yields 12

2 cups rolled oats (I used 1 cup old fashioned and 1 cup quick-cooking)
2 cups no sugar added (100%) apple juice
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp agave or honey
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
optional stir-ins: additional dried fruit, chopped nuts, white chocolate chips, shredded coconut, etc.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large bowl, soak oats in juice until softened about 15 minutes. Add pumpkin, vanilla and agave. Next stir in salt, baking soda and powder and cinnamon. Mix in flour until just combined, taking care not to over mix. Fold in cranberries and desired stir-ins, if using.

Spoon batter into an ungreased nonstick muffin pan (they will be filled to the top). Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

Let muffins cool in muffin pan on a wire rack completely before removing.

Merry Christmas!

Hello, all! Just wanted to take a quick second to wish all of you who celebrate Christmas a very merry one, and to those of you who don't, I hope you are having a lovely holiday season as well!

I have had absolutely no time to blog lately. Christmas is a very busy time in a flower shop, so I've been working a lot, and then coming home and staying up late baking and preparing for Christmas.

Speaking of baking, I made these cookie tray for our neighbors and coworkers. Despite this not so pretty photo, they came out quite nice I thought. I pretty much stuck to the original recipes, so I am going to just include the links instead of reposting them.

I made:

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies (aka Peanut Butter Blossoms) from Savory Sweet Life - I had to add an extra few tbsp of peanut butter to help bind the dough

Swirly Chocolate-Peppermint Bark from Confections from a Foodie Bride

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Ocean Spray- I used 2 cups Craisins and used white chips instead of chunks, increasing it to 3/4 cup

And at the request of my two year old...

Gingerbread Men from McCormick- Even after chilling overnight, the dough was very soft and sticky. It took a little playing around with but we found that if we rolled it in between parchment paper and then placed it in the freezer before cutting the men out (while we had another batch in the oven) that it was fine as long as you worked quickly. It was worth the extra effort, I thought, because the cookies had great flavor and a perfect consistency that was neither too soft or too crisp. I decorated them with not-so-perfect little faces and mini M&M buttons.

I am off today and pretty much done with everything I need to do, besides running out for a quick errand- can you believe I work in a flower shop and I forgot to get flowers for my own dining room table???- and then finish cleaning and prepping for tomorrow. We are hosting Christmas brunch for half of our family tomorrow and then spending the rest of the day at my mom's, who does Christmas like no one else and makes it an absolute blast! I'm so excited to spend time with family and most especially to get to re-experience it all through the eyes of my young child.

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Holiday weekend spent your loved ones!

Vegan Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Today was one of those rare, wonderful days, where I was kid-free (the little guy was spending the day with his nana), and I had no reason to leave the house, no errands to run and nothing I had to get done. I found myself in a rather domestic mood, and all I felt like doing was cooking, baking, cleaning...and staying in my pjs all day. I can happily say I accomplished all of these things today.

For the baking, I was just about to make a sandwich bread I've been wanting to try when I decided to completely change gears. Not wanting to wait for yeast to rise and craving something a little on the sweet side, I began looking for a pumpkin quick bread. I found one that had great reviews, but while vegan, wasn't exactly healthy.

I played around, cleaning it up a little, and making changes like swapping out the shredded coconut for dried cranberries (majorly reducing the sugar, since the cranberries are plenty sweet). I also used extra pumpkin in place of some of the oil. The end result was a yummy, fall-flavored bread that you'd never guess was vegan. It was really moist and for our tastes, perfectly sweetened. Definitely a perfect treat for a perfect kind of day.

Vegan Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

adapted from allrecipes.com

makes 1 loaf

1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of cloves

1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup coconut milk (or almond)

1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices. In a smaller bowl, combine pumpkin, oil and milk. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, and stir until incorporated. Fold in cranberries and walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for an hour, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven, cover tightly with foil and allow to steam for 10 minutes. Remove foil and turn onto rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

As much as I say I am not a big fan of sweets, that isn't quite true. I'm just not a fan of most sweets. As crazy as it sounds, I don't really care for cake (or cupcakes), unless it's something boring like carrot cake. I'm not a chocolate person; I'd much rather have vanilla (or better yet, peanut butter!) And most of the time, I'd rather just go without altogether. Sometimes though, I do enjoy a little treat, and I tend to prefer things like oatmeal cookies, key lime pie or some kind of fruit studded bread or muffin.

When I recently came across these cookies, I knew I'd be making them the next time I had a need for an indulgent treat. Pumpkin and butterscotch are two of my weaknesses when it comes to desserts, and I couldn't help but be very intrigued by the unlikely combination. They were even better than I dared to imagine. I initially debated making only half of the recipe, and I probably ought to have. It's entirely possible I ate half of them myself. And I normally have amazing willpower around sweets. I took these to a family dinner, we all kept finding excuses why it was alright to have another. And I'm okay with that.



And just so you know, these aren't pretty. See those bland colored, misshapen cookies with the sunken chips. Those are the best looking ones from the batch. But you won't be caring about their appearance when you bite into one. I promise.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies
slightly adapted from Annie's Eats (originally from Joy the Baker)
yields 24 cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup of canola oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch treats

Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. (I only have one baking sheet, so it just took me a little longer to bake all of them.)

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine eggs and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and light in color, about 1 minute. Blend in the oil, pumpkin and vanilla extract until well combined.

With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Using a spatula, fold in butterscotch chips.

Drop by mounds (about 2 1/2 tbsps worth) onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them a few inches apart. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until tops feel set and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. (Since I only did one sheet at at a time, I just baked them on a rack positioned in the center.)

Allow to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Cranberry Almond Bread

I've had a bit of a bad attitude lately. I'm not sure if it's due to crazy hormones, the lack of wine in my life or the fact some days spent in the company of a two year old can be rough. Maybe it's a combination of all three. I try to be the sunshiney, "puppies and rainbows" variety of person, and I don't like being a grump (which by the way, is a much nicer word for how I've felt some days). To snap myself out of it, I decided to bake something wonderful that was a little indulgent and undeniably fall.

Inspired by the first fresh cranberries I've come across this year, I found just the recipe I was looking for at Good Things Catered- a cranberry nut bread flavored with orange and cinnamon. I tend to healthify my baked goods, cutting the sugar way back, using mostly wheat flour, subbing applesauce for oil, etc. but this time I stuck to the recipe. I didn't want to risk it being too dense or not sweet enough. The only real changes I made were slightly increasing the orange zest and using almonds instead of walnuts, because that was what I had.

Very easy to put together, this recipe results in a bread that is lightly sweet yet gloriously tart, perfect for breakfast, dessert or with your afternoon tea. (Tea that might not be quite as satisfying as a post kid-bedtime glass of red wine, but still nonetheless, very good.) Was this bread attitude adjusting? Definitely.

Cranberry Almond Bread, yields one loaf

adapted slightly from Good Things Catered's Simply Delicious Cranberry Nut Bread

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

2 1/2 tbsp orange zest (from a medium sized navel orange)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup sliced almond pieces (or chopped walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease loaf pan

In a large bowl, add sugars and oil, and mix until well combined. Mixing while incorporating, add milk, eggs, zest and vanilla. Mix to combine well.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Fold dry ingredients into wet, until halfway combined. Fold in cranberries and nuts, until batter is just combined. Spoon into loaf pan, and tap to release air pockets.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. (Mine took much longer, an hour and five minutes.) Remove from oven, and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn loaf onto wire rack, and let cool completely before slicing. (Truthfully, I found this impossible, and cut and sampled mine while it was still slightly warm.)

Beckett's Birthday Cupcakes (and some birthday pics of my favorite two year old)

Last week, my little man turned two. I think I was almost more excited about his second birthday than I was his first. Something about the fact he was able to understand and look forward to the big day made it all the more fun. For the days leading up to it, he would say "Birthday- coming up!" He even walked around practicing singing Happy Birthday to himself. And when asked what he was going to get for his birthday, he'd answer "Cake!" We're not big cake eaters, but I knew I couldn't deny him some kind of birthday cake.

For his actual birthday, I made his very favorite dinner, homemade pizza topped with his favorite vegetable, mushrooms. I was all set to make pumpkin cupcakes for dessert, but last minute I began to worry that the others joining us for dinner wouldn't care for them. With limited time, I had to find a recipe that I could make with what I had on hand. That ended up being peanut butter cupcakes specked with coarsely chopped bittersweet chips and topped with peanut butter buttercream. I'm pretty glad I changed my mind, because these were so awesome!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
slightly adapted from TLC Cooking , makes 18 cupcakes

1/3 cup softened butter
1/3 cup creamy or chunky natural peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup bittersweet chips, coarsely chopped (or mini chips would work well too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a stand mixer, beat together butter and peanut butter at medium speed until smooth. Beat in sugars until well mixed. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a seperate bowl. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in chocolate pieces until mixed well.

Spoon batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake 23-25 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when touched and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for ten minutes. Remove cupcakes to rack and cool completely.

Peanut Butter Buttercream, from Martha Stewart

2/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter (I used crunchy and it was fine)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
Fine salt (optional- I actually forgot all about it)
Cream peanut butter and butter together with a stand mixture fitted with the paddle attachment at high speed. On low speed, mix in the sugar until combined, then beat mixture on high until fluffy and smooth. Add salt to taste, if desired. Use immediately.

*This recipe is supposed to yield 1 cup. I would say it was closer to twice that.
I garnished mine with milk chocolate shavings. I think a small peanut butter cup would be great too!


And now, just because I like to show off my super cute kid, here's some pictures from his birthday trip to the The Lowry Park Zoo. We had a group of 17, which included 6 little ones, for a chilly but really fun day.
Prior to leaving, opening a gift from his cousin.

Checking out the Orangutans

Taking a carousel ride with Nana

Watching the Mama Rhino doing laps

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

I think this was cookie fate: I had an urge to bake something. The multiple jars of peanut butter in the cabinet seemed to be calling my attention, just asking to be used and preferably in cookies. As I was mulling this idea over, I thought of the opened bag of chocolate chips I had, and how delicious they'd be with peanut butter.

So, I as I was deciding if I wanted to actually find a recipe for such cookies (you know, since I didn't really need to have cookies- especially one made with tempting peanut butter- in the house) I get on the computer and check my email, then check my blog reader...and there is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookies. I took that as a sign that I had to make them.

This recipe comes from Ashlee at A Year in the Kitchen and is a recipe she created herself. We had friends over Saturday night and managed to restrain ourselves prior to them coming over so we could share these. (Okay, well, minus a couple.)These chewy, delightful cookies went over great and were quickly eaten! I didn't make any substantial changes except for minor substituting due to what I had on hand (crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy, dark brown sugar in place of light and bittersweet chips for the semi-sweet ones) so I am just going to link you to the original.

Amazing Orange Muffins

When we bought our house nearly five years ago, the huge back yard was pretty much its biggest selling point. Not only was there plenty of room to add on, but after we did, we were still left with a giant yard. But what I wasn't so thrilled about, was that in that spacious yard sat two citrus trees. I had a clear vision of piles of rotting fruit all laying all over the ground, and of us trying to pawn off unwanted citrus off to any one who would come over.

But during the following winter, we discovered that wasn't going to be the case. The seemingly ordinary yellow grapefruit tree and the still-to-this-day unknown variety of small orange tree yielded the most delicious, juicy fruit. Sage became a juicing pro, and somewhere along the way our house special- a cocktail made of gin and a mix fresh squeezed orange and grapefuit juice- became something we, along with our friends, would look forward to all summer and fall long. I like to put our Gin & Juice in the same category as the Rueben Sandwich. How many people have you known who dislike pretty much everything in a Rueben, but together for them, it becomes a magical combination? People who hate both gin and grapefuits will begrudgingly try one and wind up loving it.

But since it wouldn't be wise to sit around and drink Gin & Juice all day, I try to find ways to incorporate the citrus into cooking and baking. Since my little one loves muffins and it had been a while since I'd made any, I tried to find a recipe that used fresh oranges but was without cranberries since I had none. I found an easy recipe that used a whole orange, peel and all, as well as juice. I made minor changes, such as replacing some of the all-purpose flour with wheat, because I don't typically like muffins made of all white flour, and subbed brown sugar for the white- again, personal taste preference. I also added a little vanilla and cooked them a couple minutes less.

These may just be the best muffin I've ever made. I knew when I sampled the batter- nearly whipped in consitstency and sweet but not sugary-that they were going to be a winner. These are absolutely delicious, moist and flavorful on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside. They can be eaten plain, although I personally love them with cream cheese. You could also top them with butter or honey, and although its not my family's style, I'd guess they'd be good with a glaze or frosting. Now I know not everyone has a magical orange tree in their back yard, but I'm sure any juicy, in- season oranges would work.

adapted from RecipeZaar, makes 12 muffins
1 medium sized orange, well washed
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
1 large egg
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease non-stick muffin tin.

Slice the orange into quarters and using a paring knife remove the small section containing the seeds. With peel intact, place the orange quarters into a food processor along with the half cup of juice. Process until pureed. Add egg, butter and extract and process until combined. Pour into large bowl.

Mix remaining ingredients together in a seperate bowl. Add all at once to orange mixture and stir to combine.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 18 minutes. Let muffins remain in tin for 5 minutes before removing.

Butterscotch Marshmallow Bars aka Disapearing Marshmallow Brownies (but really Blondies)

I have a serious love-hate relationship with this decadent treat. Because I've never been (as an adult) very big on sweets, I've always been able to resist them easily. I could have a giant bag of chocolates in my house for weeks, and never be tempted to eat one. But when it came to these, my willpower was non-existent.

You may wonder then why I would've ever made them in the first place. The night before Christmas Eve, getting home late, after working a long day, I got to work in the kitchen baking up some treats for my neighbors and friends. I discovered I was missing a couple of ingredients for one of the recipes I'd planned on making. It was late, I was tired, so I very quickly googled some of the ingredients I did have, and found this easy, easy recipe. So we threw it together, put it in the fridge to chill overnight, and went to bed sometime after 1:00. Both of us were up early the next day for work, so I sliced and packaged them, only tasting the tiniest broken piece, before giving them all away.

Just recently Sage commented how he hadn't even been able to try one. I'd gotten feedback that they were awesome, so I told him I'd make a half batch, so we could have a few and give away the rest. Well guess what? We didn't give them away. I was mad at myself, both for making such a tempting treat and for only making a half batch. I will not be making them again, unless for a special occasion, because clearly we are not strong enough to resist eating them all ourselves, but I also can't wait for the next get-together so I have an excuse to make more.

found on The Biscuit Pusher as Butterscotch Marshmallow Bars, from Taste and Tell as Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies, originally from allrecipes.

1/2 cup butter (A light substitute suitable for baking works fine)
1 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (both times I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chips instead, and will continue to.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 pan with foil, and grease the foil. (You can also just grease the pan, but foil makes it easier. When making a half batch, an 11x7 pan worked well.)

Melt the butterscotch chips and butter together, stirring occasionally until smooth. Try not to let them get too hot or they will separate. Set aside to cool. (This could be done in the microwave if you desire. I prefer the stovetop. For me, the microwave is only for heating leftovers.)

In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In smaller bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the melted butterscotch into the sugar mixture. Next add the dry ingredients, mix until smooth. Stir in the marshmallows and chocolate chips last. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in preheated oven. (Both times it took closer to 20 minutes for me.) Cool in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight before cutting into squares. (They are also awesome if you just keep them refrigerated.)

Week 7: NE Patriots vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers in London- English Shortbread

I just realized its been four days since I had a blog entry. As someone who blogs nearly everyday, that's surprising to me. It's not that I haven't been cooking and baking, its just I haven't had much worth sharing. There was a cauliflower pasta bake that was good, but not exactly great. The same for some pumpkin and black beans quesadillas- tasty enough, yet nothing to write home about. There were some yummy cranberry muffins from a recipe I've been experimenting with, and should be ready to share soon. (I think the next batch will be perfect.)

Anyhow, all of these were decent/good, but I did have one immense failure. This week the Patriots were playing the Bucs. Now I've grown up living very close to Tampa, and absolutely nothing came to mind as traditional Tampa food. But it just so happened the game was being played in London. I decided it would be fun to try an English recipe. After browsing some sites, I decided I didn't want to make a meal since pretty much most English dinners involve beef, which we rarely ever eat. I thought crumpets would be nice. Sage didn't seem too excited-he would've rathered me do a roast.

After an attempt at crumpets- which was nothing short of a disater- I realized I should done a roast. Lets see, first I forgot it called for an egg until after the batter had sat for 40 of the 60 minutes it was to rise, then I completely overheated my griddle (I haven't used non-stick cookware in a long time) and burned the first four badly. (And myself, unfortunately.) Then because I overfilled the rings about 3 times more than I should've, I only had enough left over to make two more. I guess my pan was still too hot, because not only did they not look like a crumpet should with bubbley little holes, they tasted somewhat burnt. Sage's words: Not your best work, honey. So after a few bites, they went in the trash, and I was coming to terms with the fact that I'd have no recipe to share for my little football-food challenge this week.

Only, I couldn't do it. Before deciding upon crumpets, I'd considered Shortbread. So next thing I knew I was in the kitchen, whipping up a batch. How I wish I'd done this first! These were so easy to make, and came out delicious- light, buttery, not too sweet. Sage was thrilled. (Apparently he loves shortbread? News to me.) I'll admit mine leave a little to be desired in the appearance department, but at this point, I wasn't in the mood to fuss. I do wish I had skipped the fork marks though. The recipe said it was the "trademark" of an authentic shortbread, but I'm pretty sure my toddler could've done a better job than I did. I think next time, I'll cut them out with a cute cookie cutter. This recipe yields 45-50 cookies, so I quartered it and got 9 two-inch squares. Since other than that, I did nothing to alter this recipe, I'm just going to link to the original.

Apple Cheddar Bacon Biscuits

Ever since my mom posted on her Facebook the other day that she was making Apple Cheddar Biscuits, I've had them on my mind. Maybe because I had some apples to use up, as well as a block of cheddar in the fridge, or perhaps because they just sounded yummy. Having too many homemade treats in the house (even if I'm giving most of them away) has proven to be too much temptation, so I wanted to make these before taking a baking hiatus.

I pretty much never eat bacon because it so fattening. Every great now and then I'll indulge with a simple BLT, but I'm not a big fan of it mixed in with lots of other flavors. However, we had some bacon that Sage had bought, and it just seemed like it would be a nice addition to these biscuits. While I could find recipes of other baked goods with the three ingedients together, when it came to biscuits, I couldn't find one. Even Apple Cheddar was hard to come by. (My mom's recipe was using Bisquick, which I don't have.) So I just made a basic biscuit, added the other elements how I thought made sense and crossed my fingers that they'd come out alright.

I'm proud of myself, for not following a recipe, these came out really good. I was just going to drop them, but I didn't have room on my baking sheet, so I spooned them into muffin tins, and I like how they came out. Beckett informed me this morning they they were "muffins" when I called them biscuits. Cute, since I have never heard him even say "muffin" before! Regardless of what you want to call them, they're quite tasty.

makes 16 biscuits

1 cup grated, peeled apple, about 2 small (I used Gala)

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 tsp honey

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

1 cup 1% milk

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

3 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

Heat small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and apple, top with honey. Cook stirring frequently for about 8 minutes, or until onions are soft and most of the moisture has cooked out of the apples. Set aside.

Add flours, salt, baking powder, and butter to food processor. Pulse just enough to create a coarse crumblike mixture. Transfer to large mixing bowl. Add milk and stir until just blended. Fold in cheese, bacon and apple mixture, again stirring just untill blended. Do not overmix.

Drop by spoonfulls into muffin tins, filling about 3/4 way. Bake for 15 minutes.

Pumpkin Butter & Whole Wheat Oatmeal Quick Bread

Since I had a difficult time finding canned pumpkin for my pumpkin bread the other day, I thought I should save my remaining can for something special, just in case I couldn't find more. Then in the mail this week, I got three magazines, all with taunting Fall covers.

Better Homes & Gardens, the first one I read, was full of pumpkin recipes. For some reason their pumpkin butter recipe jumped out at me, despite there being far more exciting and complex ways to cook with pumpkin. When Living had hardly any edible ways to use it, my mind was made up, before I even could crack open Southern Living. Yet, when I went to make the BH&G's Pumpkin Butter, I realized we didn't have two key ingredients- pure maple syrup and apple juice. (I know, what kind of mommy doesn't have apple juice? The kind whose kid is getting carrot juice and more water lately because he's been drinking too much apple juice, even though I swore I'd never be that mom.)

In searching, it seemed all pumpkin butters had apple juice. Then I found one with applesauce instead. Now, I'll confess, I've never had pumpkin butter that I can recall, so I can't say if it's as good as one made with apple juice, but if the reviews from RecipeZaar are any indication, its actually better! All we know is it is delicious. It's yummy on homemade bread for breakfast or with dinner, or eaten straight out of the jar. And it got a huge toddler thumbs up in my house. He may somehow like it even more than me!

I wanted to make a healthy, easy bread to go with it, and found a nice recipe on the same site. I liked how it had no white flour and my much loved oats. This simple yeast-less recipe produces a dense tasty bread, which can be made vegan by using soymilk and maple syrup. I think its best toasted after being sliced. And smothered in pumpkin butter, of course!

Pumpkin Butter, from RecipeZaar

1 (15 ounce) can organic pumpkin puree
1 cup natural applesauce
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (I subbed nutmeg)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In small sauce pan, combine pumpkin, applesauce, sugar, cinnamon and ginger or nutmeg. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring often to prevent scorching, 45 min. Stir in lemon juice. Let cool, then spoon into tight-sealing container and refrigerate. Will keep in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Quick Bread, adapted from RecipeZaar

1 1/2 cups rolled or quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 tablespoons honey or maple syrup (I used honey)

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used applesauce)
1 1/2 cups skim milk or soymilk (I used 1%)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf tin.

Grind oats in a food processor or blender to form a meal/flour. (I only did this with 3/4 a cup and left the rest whole.) In a large bowl, combine oatmeal, whole-wheat flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together honey and vegetable oil (or applesauce) to form an emulsion; then stir in the milk and mix well until dissolved.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to form a wet batter. Pour/spoon batter into prepared loaf tin and bake in preheated oven for about 50 minutes or until the top starts to brown slightly. Remove from loaf tin, cool completely on a wire rack.